Our Heart for Asia
In June, Bill was invited back to Asia and spent a week there, teaching some local missionaries with a local mission agency about how to better learn language and culture. This was a follow-up to our trip last year. This time, Bill was able to provide some training for 10 missionaries, and several mission leaders, including the director of their training program.
This like-minded agency targets Unreached People Groups, and their desire is to have their missionaries reach a higher level of fluency in the heart language of those people groups. And they’ve asked our mission–Bill in particular–to help them do this.
The feedback was that the missionaries found the sessions to be super helpful and they couldn’t wait to get home and put into practice what they had learned. Their leaders asked our mission to give them a list of recommendations they could pass on to their board. They want Bill to come back and do more training. This might lead to walking them through revamping their training course, as well as training their mission’s language consultants.
Bill’s (physical) Heart
A Shock… In March, our doctor discovered that Bill had A-Fib (atrial fibrillation)–that is, an irregular heartbeat. This greatly increases the risk of stroke, so Bill was immediately put on blood thinners.
Another, Better Shock… In July, his cardiologist did a procedure with a mild electric shock, which was successful in resetting Bill’s heart to normal rhythm! And from that day until now, Bill has way more energy! We hadn’t realized how his energy had gradually waned.
The Heart of the Matter
Missionaries need fluency to communicate God’s message; and they need training and coaching in order to reach fluency! So Bill’s project of updating Ethnos360’s how-to manual our training programs and missionaries use to learn language and culture is a vital part of seeing Unreached People Groups reached in their Heart Languages.
Recently, Bill’s project of revising those Culture and language Acquisition (CLA) materials is picking up momentum. The software development team is about to begin working on the beta version of the mobile app and desktop/laptop program that will integrate with the new CLA how-to program. We’re hoping to coordinate the release of the app with the launch of the new CLA materials.
So Bill is rallying his team to pick up the pace in these final stages of development. Communication can be a challenge. A recent conference call, he had to find a time that worked for people in Florida, South Asia and California! He’ll be heading to Florida in early September for some face-to-face meetings with some of his team.
Prayer and Praise
- Thank the Lord with us for Bill’s back-to-normal heart rhythm!
- Pray for health and strength, safe travel, and wisdom as Bill oversees his project
note: In accordance with our mission’s guidelines we’re
being intentionally vague as to country names for reasons of
missionary security. Want more details? Please ask!
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