October 2023

Dear Praying family and friends,

My trip to Asia-Pacific went very well. Thank you so much for your prayers. I was able to spend one week interior and the remainder of the time was spent in town. Our translation check went smoothly and our team has gone back to their villages. It’s just Oke and I here now, going over revisions and helping Oke get used to the translation software we use. It’s been a busy but very good time! The team put in 8 hours every day checking scripture, including one Sunday, but as the translator, Oke and I worked most evenings and over lunch breaks to rework verses that needed rechecking.

This check was easier than normal on our 6 checkers since they worked 7-12 every morning, but afternoons they were split up into teams of 3 and only one team worked from 2-5 each day trading off, one day on and one day off throughout the 10 day check. Along with you we prayed every day for strength and stamina and that we would be able to identify and accurately revise anything that didn’t communicate clearly, accurately and meaningfully in the team’s heart language of Semandang.

The total amount of verses checked, including all three types of checking, were 1,140 verses or 41 chapters altogether from 1 & 2 Samuel, Numbers, Proverbs and Daniel. The breakdown is as follows:

1. Final Consultant check of Daniel (whole book) & Proverbs 10-14: 508 verses
2. First Comprehension check of Proverbs 6-7 & 15, 1 Sam 1, 2 Sam 6, 10-12, Num 12, 16-17, part of 20: 311 verses
3. Second Comprehension check of same verses: 311 verses
4. Rechecking of various rewritten verses: 10 verses

On a couple of the days we were challenged by stomach bugs and an internet outage that took about ½ hour of time away from the check. One afternoon, as dry season came to an end, it rained so hard that we couldn’t hear each other and had to complete the day in a room that was more soundproof. We are still amazed that everything went so smoothly.

Oke and I have started putting revisions into our checked drafts. I spent one morning going through the boxes of books and other items I’d left behind 4 ½ years ago and finding homes for that stuff. Oke is also now using and being trained in our scripture translation software which will make our drafting and checking process go much quicker and smoother.

The tribal people were just finishing burning their fields when I arrived. It was very dry and smoky the last week of August and the first couple of weeks of September, but dry season ended with some very heavy downpours clearing up the haze and dust in the air. We enjoyed some of the delicious food that is available during the planting season.

I am so thankful to the Lord for His goodness and protection, for the loving and very willing team that He has given me to minister together with here in Asia-Pacific and for the numerous opportunities He brought our way to serve each other during this time. God filled my time in Asia-Pacific with many amazing opportunities to share the gospel and disciple believers, way too many to recount in this brief update.

I am also thankful for my brothers who came alongside mom and dad, not only to spend some valuable family time together, but to be there during my time away. I am now back in Sheridan, but as you can tell from reading this update I wrote it after the check while still in our coastal town.

Thank you for your part in the gospel,

Darcy Berglund