Translation Progress Update May 31, 2016 + Plotting the Course Ahead

Well another month has flown by so quickly and God enabled us to exceed our goals and to get up to and including Revelation 5:5 completed. What an encouragement to see the Lord giving us such progress!!!

This month of June we are increasing our goals a little and by the end of June we are working towards having up to and including Rev 14:10 completed.

Where to from here (Left to do still):

-By early August this year we are hoping to have Revelation completed.

-We need to spend a few weeks reviewing the book of James which we will do towards the end of this year.

-We then need to complete Matthew and John – We will (Lord Willing) begin John later this year and then we are praying that we can complete these 2 gospels in 2017.

-Then our translation of the NT will be complete – Thanks Lord!

-Once the translation is complete we need to spend time making up book introductions, a glossary, maps, formatting etc. in preparation for printing. We hope that this will all be completed and that we will be able to print in 2018. The time will come quickly. Pray with us that this will be a reality in the first ½ of 2018.

-Deb, Jubab and I are going to leave Australia on Jan 1, 2017 (at least that is our plan) to take Jubab to Bible College in the USA, and while there to visit Deb’s Grandpa who is not doing too well these days – he is 95, and also to visit other relatives and friends and then we will return to serve full time in Mindanao. We are excited about the direction the Lord is giving us.

We have a missionary!!

We have a missionary!!!!!!  This is what the church at Ricodo exclaimed in excitement as their leaders announced that one of their young men, Jovanie Cole, wanted to give his life for missions and that after one year of serving in the church under his elders, they were ready to send him out for further training in Lapoc!!

So we now have a new missionary trainee in Lapoc! Pray for him! Our Lord told us to pray for more labourers as the fields are white unto harvest and here is one more labourer who has raised his hand and has said,  “I’ll go.” Please also pray for his dear mother and father as they endure this separation from their beloved son who they have raised since childhood to follow Jesus.

These are Jovanie’s elders arriving with Jovanie on May 23rd in Lapoc. They honoured him and showed them their full support by not sending him off on the trip by himself but by giving up a couple of day’s work to bring him all the way to Lapoc and entrust him safely into the hands of his new co-workers and teachers. They are so happy and excited as Jovanie is the first missionary to be sent out from their church!

Today is Jovanie’s first day of training and he is going to have a packed weekly schedule of going out on outreaches with the bible teachers from Lapoc, formal classes two or three times a week taught by Rodil and others from the Lapoc church leadership team, a couple of mornings a week with the translation team to deepen his understanding of the Word, physical work that will be assigned to him…… prayer times, work with the Youth Group…… all this to prepare him to go out and open up a new area of missionary work as part of a new missionary team. 

Yesterday Jovanie (in the center wearing a blue tshirt) said goodbye to his elders as they left to head back to Ricodo. We can imagine the sudden hole they left in his heart as they drove away. One of the costs of being a missionary is the sometimes overwhelming feeling of isolation from loved ones. Jovanie will be working through these feelings right now so please pray for him that he will endure the hardships and count it all joy for the sake of Jesus and for the Gospel.

Translation Update for April!

This is our team today (picture taken a few minutes ago), hard at work back in our office in Lapoc while we work on the ‘other side of the screen’ over here in our Ballina office!

Today we are laboring over the book of Jude, up to verse 12 right at this very moment as we write this while we wait for the team over in Lapoc to talk about their corrections on the draft.

PRAISE the Lord with us for enabling us and strengthening us to reach the April goals for the translation!!!!!  During the month of April, our goals were to finish 2 Peter 3, and translate the books of 1 John and 2 John up to verse 11. These goals were reached and even more!!!!

PLEASE PRAY WITH US FOR THIS MONTH OF MAY!  Our goals for this month are:

·       To finish 2 John (already finished as we’re ahead!)

·       To finish 3 John (already finished as we’re ahead!)

·       To finish Jude (already finished as we’re ahead!)

·       To start the book of Revelation and finish up to Rev 4:11.

Many prayers must have been pouring up to our Lord’s throne for us during the month of April, because in spite of many other things that the Lord brought our way - including a huge amount of work in helping with the food crisis – we were able to stick on schedule and even get ahead.

Thank you soooooo much for partnering with us in this way and keeping the Tala-Andig New Testament translation team in your prayers.

Next week – May 9^th – please pray for national elections in the Philippines, and especially for our brothers and sisters, that they will be kept safe during this sometimes volatile time.