Roadtrip
We just returned from a roadtrip to visit Shari’s family and some other friends, share at a supporting church in Iowa and to attend the wedding of our former co-worker, Lori Morley (to Joseph Smith on Sept. 21st). After the wedding we visited our son Jason and his wife Geordan and her family then we headed home. We were able to make a few quick stops at National Parks along the way also. It is good to be home!
Village Life
Our Simbari church brother, Raymond shared some details about how things have been going in the village lately. It was good to hear that some new leaders are being trained and they have begun some midweek home groups. On Wednesdays and Fridays meetings are happening in different homes in the village where the Simbari Bible is read and discussed. Comments about the translation have been like this: “It is so clear that very little needs explained.” In the past they were often very confused about the meaning of Biblical text from the national language Bible so we are glad they are finally understanding the text in their own language.
Recently 53 Simbari people hiked over the mountain to attend a large intertribal Bible conference. They were all greatly encouraged in the Word and encouraged in their faith. The Simbari church brought along five people from another Simbari village and they came back so excited. They declared to their whole village that this teaching that they heard about Jesus being the Way the Truth and the Life was the real thing and they have set aside land so that Bible teaching can come to their village. Please pray that God would protect and grow the faith of these 5 people from this village.
Urgent Prayer Request: Raymond also passed on that there has been constant harassment from a law cult group. In an attempt to stop people from reading the Bible translation they are spreading lies about it and have labeled it as illegitimate and called for it to be thrown away. They are trying to scare people from listening to Bible teaching by telling them that if they listen they will go to hell. This kind of thing has been happening for many years, sometimes worse than at other times. It seems to have increased lately probably due to the public dedication of the Simbari Bible that made the other group jealous. PLEASE PRAY for the Simbari church to stand firm and pray for the salvation of those who place their trust in their own works instead of in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Bible Curriculum
We recently completed the first drafts for the remaining Bible Study books to go with each book of the New Testament. We used an internet printing service to print some copies for us to begin proofreading. We also sent the PDFs to our print shop in PNG and they printed copies for our translation helper, Raymond, to be proofreading also. The 6 books pictured are just a part of the whole series, but they are the most recent ones we have been working on during the last few years.
Shari and South Asia GO Team
Shari is ready to head out with her GO team to South Asia. Right after arriving she will be sharing in a breakout session with women from a Bible College. After that the team will be putting on a VBS for the local kids there among other things. Please pray for the teams’ safe travel, health and ministry opportunities.
