We had such an awesome time in Indonesia! We were able to work with 18 different language groups, encouraging tribal church leaders and missionary teams of the importance of literacy skills so that people can read the Bibles in their own languages. A great Bible translation will not have the life-changing effect that God desires, if no one can read It!
We traveled through quite a bit of the country with 28 airplane or helicopter rides. Thank you so much for your prayers! Each tribal group we were with had their own unique situations, and we sure were leaning hard on the Lord for His wisdom to give practical help. God gave us great health and safety as we traveled (even as we ate all sorts of new and “interesting” things).
We met a whole new set of friends and coworkers in Indonesia. We worked most closely with Darryl and Kyla Palmer. Kyla is the literacy consultant for the field of Indonesia, and we want her to have everything she needs for her ministry.
There’s no way we can even begin to tell you all the stories of how God worked, but perhaps a good way to summarize is to share the words of a Punan tribal church leader named Kesi who attended the literacy seminar. He became convinced of how important it is to teach and read in the language that speaks to the people’s heart. Returning to his village he said, “I have studied the Indonesian language translation of Genesis for many years. But it wasn’t until this last month when I read the whole book in my own language that I can say that I really understood it.” In another language group the missionary took our suggestion to develop more booklets for the people to practice reading and has already written 10 new stories! The improvement in reading skills will soon be very noticeable.
It’s good to be back, but we are so thankful that we can invest our lives that tribal people all around the world can read and grow through God’s precious written Word!
for pictures of the adventure go to our photo page and click on Indonesia!
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