…God is still working!
We wanted to update you on what God continues to do among the Palawano people where we worked for 30 years.
The New Testament is Being Studied
About a week ago, the believers in our former village organized a conference to study the book of Galatians for four days using the New Testament translation we gave them eleven years ago.
The church leaders invited our partner Tim to come and teach. Several Palawano men also taught during the conference…
- ABIL was a teenager when we moved to Palawan. He was one of Bill’s translation helpers for years, and one of the guys Bill helped to disciple. He’s been a leader and a teacher in the church for many years. He’s a fiery preacher.
- ARNEL is another one of Bill’s translation helpers. He was a toddler when we moved to Palawan. He grew up under Bill’s teaching and found his wife Arlen in the youth group that met in our house. He plays guitar and leads worship as well as teaching God’s Word in the meetings. Arnel is a quiet, thoughtful man, and his teaching is insightful and thorough.
- RESHAL is the son of one of our daughter’s friends. His mom was only about 8 years old when we first met her. Now Reshal has grown up, and finished high school (which was unheard-of not that long ago). He and his sister Melani even went to a Bible College south of Manila and got their teaching credentials (a first for the Palawanos in our area!)
Now they’re both back on Palawan, teaching in the public schools in Palawano communities, and Reshal is also helping to teach and lead in the church. Reshal is gifted at developing sermons, and he can study the Bible in three languages as he prepares, which greatly enhances his messages.
The Galatians Conference
Reshal’s final message on Sunday was about Galatians 4. His message was very timely because another group has moved into the area which teaches that Christians are under the law and need to keep the Sabbath, etc. A number of Palawanos have been led astray by this group’s teaching.
Reshal’s message touched many hearts. This is an answer to prayer. In our last update we asked you to pray about this group and its false teaching. Reshal said he plans to keep reteaching the content of his message in the coming weeks because so many people need to be reminded of the truth that we are under grace and no longer under the Law.
We were told that the Palawanos thanked God and us for their Bible. One man there commented about the teaching, saying, “I couldn’t get enough!” Others expressed their gratitude to the missionary who enabled Reshal to get more training so he could preach that well.
It was humbling and encouraging to hear how God’s Word continues to bear fruit from the seeds we and our partners planted long ago.
The Palawanos Still Love to Sing
Tim brought a bunch more copies of the songbooks. The Palawanos still love to sing the worship songs Bill translated. The singing part of their church service can last a half hour or more!
Someone sent us a video of the entire group as they sang Keurem! Kekseg! (“Be Bold! Be Strong!”) And here are a couple screenshots of another video showing a group of a dozen kids clapping and enthusiastically singing Metaas ey Ngaran Mo(“Lord I Lift Your Name on High.”) Watching those videos brought tears to our eyes.
Our Translation is “Going Wide”
One of our missionary coworkers works in another area where the Palawanos speak a different dialect. She has been using our New Testament translation as a base, and translating it directly into that other dialect. Their team is going through all the checking procedures to test people’s understanding and the translation’s accuracy. But she said only a few important changes have to be made to produce clearly understood Scriptures for that group.
Other Updates
GLOBAL TRAINING: You may remember that back in 2021 and 2022 Bill’s team worked hard to create 30 video courses on communication principles and worldview. Those courses were used as part of a two-year online program to train missionaries from “closed” countries, where no in-person training would be possible. These trainees want training in order to reach unreached people groups in their own countries.
We knew that those 30 courses were still being used, but Bill just learned about a new class will enter that training program. This class is the largest yet—SEVENTY students–and they are from nine different countries in Africa, central Asia, SE Asia, and the Caribbean. We’re so excited to see more workers trained and sent into the harvest!
BILL’S TEAM: We’ll update you next time on the language and culture learning tools they are developing.
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