Simbari Baptism November 2018

November 10, 2018

First some hard things: In our last update we shared about completing another large translation check. Just as we were experiencing the excitement of finishing another check we had some hard things come up. One was a massive power surge that destroyed a lot of money’s worth of electronics, another was a large unexpected CA […]

Simbari Update August 2018

August 18, 2018

Final Consultant Check of Matthew and Luke We just completed the final consultant check on the Simbari translation of Matthew and Luke (2200+ verses!). That is about 27% of the New Testament and brings us to a total of 65% being final checked and ready for print. A translation consultant, Greg Melendes, reviewed our draft […]

Olivia talks about her faith and the Bible in her language

July 4, 2018

Our son, Jason, put together this little video where he talks to a Simbari girl about her faith and what it means to have God’s Word in her own language. The girls name is Olivia and she was able to help her mom with a recent check of the Simbari Bible translation.

How do you spell-check in a previously unwritten language?

March 13, 2018

There is a saying, “How do you eat an elephant?” to which the answer is “one bite at a time.” Similarly the answer to: “How do you spell-check in a previously unwritten language?” is simply “one word at a time.” After completing a recent translation revision it was time for a spell-check. Spell-checking is one […]

Pray for Bible teaching in Simbari

February 24, 2018

We have exciting news to share about two Creation to Christ Bible classes and one literacy class that just began yesterday. The Simbari church is doing this as a ministry to the community. There are 20 adults in one study, 12 at another and 20 in literacy, and even more kids. They are meeting in […]

October 2017 Update – Major Translation Step Completed!

October 4, 2017

“I want to be a flying fox with God’s Talk” That is what David’s translation helper, Raymond, told us as he was pondering all the ministry needs in different places from deep in the bush to out in the towns. The flying fox, also known as a fruit bat, is a large bat with a […]

Thankful Translation Helper

May 16, 2017

Return to Papua New Guinea David has been drafting portions of the Old Testament and is on the last chapter of the book of Genesis. Now we are just a couple weeks away from returning to Papua New Guinea. We are thankful for the time we have had here to be with our family, friends […]

Preliminary draft of Simbari New Testament complete!

April 30, 2016

Preliminary Simbari Translation draft complete! We are excited to report that David just completed the preliminary draft of the Simbari New Testament! (We started this translation draft about 13 years ago) Note the word, “Preliminary” which means the most difficult step of the process is complete but there are still many rigorous proofing and checking […]

Simbari Update Nov. 2015

November 22, 2015

During our recent trip to the village it was great to see the church functioning well on their own. They have elders and deacons functioning and even the kids are participating! They were taking up offerings that included food items like greens, sweet potato and squash as well as some coins so that they can be a blessing […]

Simbari Update for September 2015

September 29, 2015

Church mobility In past updates we have shared about how many of the tribal believers are more mobile now coming and going to the cities. This continues to be true, not just in the Simbari tribe but in many other rural areas as well. Last week the Simbari believers living in the capital city of […]