It is W–A–Y past time for you all to hear from us! We’ve been home from the Philippines since May 19th. Hard to believe the summer has flown by so quickly! Thank you for your support in finances and prayer while we were there.
Recap of our Jan – May 2016 Trip to the Philippines
Our months in the Philippines were very profitable! It is always heartwarming to see the Kalanguya believers, and encouraging to visit the churches and see the growth in the outreach ministries! We had numerous opportunities to teach, encourage, and fellowship with the believers, to sit down and talk with the leaders to understand what issues they are facing and how we can continue to help them. It was a particular joy to attend and teach at the Kalanguya Believers’ Conference where the believers from all the churches gather each year to share and fellowship with each other.
Working with the Translation Teams was the primary focus of this trip. We finished the final consultant checks of Song of Solomon, 1 and 2 Chronicles and the first 100 chapters of Psalms. Bob also mentored one of our consultants-in-training, Sarah, while she did a consultant check of 1 Chronicles for the neighboring Ibaloi Translation Team. SO it is with GREAT JOY that we can say that the translation of the Kalanguya Old Testament is almost finished! ONLY 50 more chapters of PSALMS remain to be checked! Bob will continue working on those in the following months here in the US.
A New Project……..and we are very excited about it!
As we mentioned earlier in this letter, one thing we always do on our trips to the Philippines is talk to our church leaders and teachers to see what issues they are facing and how we can further help them in their ministries. One of the issues that always comes up is the need for more teaching seminars and even formal classes they can attend that would help them in their study and teaching of God’s Word and we always agree with them that this is a definite need. BUT HOW AND WHERE?? This past March, we were introduced to the Grace School of Theology. GSOT is based in Texas but they have extension facilities in various places around the world and make use of online teaching technology to help folks already in ministry continue to study and be further trained where they are. GSOT has a school location here in Birmingham, AL and also one in Manila and they along with our church here in Alabama are very interested in working with us to help our Kalanguya leaders get involved in a more formal program of Biblical education. The first step toward this goal has already been reached through the provision of a greatly improved INTERNET service at our CFM center. Our plan is that our Kalanguya Bible translators who already know English quite well and are college educated, take these online studies themselves (taught in English) and then tailor them to the level and needs of our Kalanguya church leaders and teachers and then teach them in the Kalanguya language!!
With live streaming now available with our new internet service at our CFM compound, it can become a learning center for GSOT students in the northern Philippines to provide Biblical education not only for the Kalanguya believers but also for people from other language groups as well. This ties in
perfectly with another need that has been before us for the past few years! Due to new regulations and requirements by the Philippine government, we have to build a CHAPEL at our CFM center in order to maintain our tax exempt status. From 1991 until now, meetings, workshops, etc. at CFM have been held in our covered basketball court area or in the large front room of the Girls’ Dorm Building. But the government now requires a building exclusively used for “religious functions”. This new connection with GSOT and the opportunity to eventually provide more training for church leaders coincides with the Philippine government requirements, making it necessary for us to build a Chapel at CFM.
We are very excited about the prospect of this next step forward of having a building that will serve not only as a church at CFM but also provide the location where our Kalanguya believers can gain further training in the word for ministry! Our church here in Alabama is getting behind us financially in this project as much as they can and we are grateful for their vision for this new aspect of our ministry and their enthusiasm in helping us raise the needed funds. But we need your help too – you who have faithfully partnered with us in the ministry to the Kalanguya people for so many years. We anticipate needing at least $25,000 to build this chapel.
If you or your church can help in providing some of the necessary funding to build a chapel at our CFM center in the Philippines, it would be greatly appreciated! Please send your gift to: New Tribes Mission, 1000 East 1st Street, Sanford, FL 32771-1487, with a note attached saying that this is for the “Kalanguya Project, Philippine Field Fund”. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR BEING PARTNERS IN MINISTRY WITH US!