We are thankful to have finished proofing the digital text of the Simbari Bible by the end of 2021. As we waited for our sample hardcopies we kept thinking, “All we want for Christmas is the Simbari Bible.” Due to some delays over the holidays it didn’t arrive until January. In the meantime David kept reading the digital version trying to make it through a few books a day. Now we are happy to say that we have hardcopy samples of the Simbari Bible in hand. It is beautiful! We are so happy with it and are now reviewing it to make sure all is good. This should be a fairly quick check as we look for anything that might have gotten missed before. We will probably need to have another hardcopy sent for final checking depending on what we find during our checking. (Shari already found a broken up word missing a hyphen mark.) Please pray for God’s wisdom and guidance especially since this is pretty much our last chance to make any editing adjustments.
Unexpected Christmas solitude – the day after Christmas we came down with COVID symptoms and quarantined. The symptoms were pretty mild and only lasted a couple days. By the time our test results came back almost a week later as positive we were already feeling fine. Nevertheless, we stayed home for a couple weeks which was not typical for this time of year but we tried to make the best of it. 🙂
Kids and Grandkids
At the end of the first week of January our kids and their families came for a visit. Esther, Tim and Daniel came from Oregon and Jason & Geordan came from Wisconsin. It was great to have them here. They planned their visit so they could also attend their cousin Andrew’s wedding. Rachel and her family had to delay their trip until Feb. because of some work commitments. We don’t get to see them much, so we are very grateful for these opportunities to spend time with them and our grandchildren. Speaking of grandchildren, Simon and Chandler are expecting another child so that will make us grandparents of four.
News from the Field
David’s translation helper Raymond has felt God leading him to return to the village to teach and disciple there. On the way to the village he is staying a while in Goroka and is using the time away from distractions to work on some Bible lessons. Last week he shared how the illustrations of the soldier, athlete and farmer in 2 Timothy “ajuulowosoka-pierced” his heart. And about 2 Tim. 2:9 saying, “the Word of God is not bound.”
2022
It looks like this year, 2022, is when the printed Bible will finally arrive in Simbari. We are hoping and praying that the “unbound” Word of God will transform the hearts and minds of the Simbari people even beyond what we can imagine. Thanks for your prayers and support to help make this happen. Happy New Year!