Ministry Updates

PLEASE PRAY FOR BILL

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We won’t take time to polish this letter at all, although we do have some exciting ministry updates to share with you soon!

Bill just spent 5 nights in the hospital on IV antibiotics for a very serious cellulitis infection on his lower left leg. Doctors were able to grow a culture of the bacteria from his blood (not good), but his blood is clear now (good).

He’s been home since Thursday Nov 6. He is still on heavy doses of oral antibiotics for at least two weeks.

There’s a lot of redness on his leg, and quite a bit of swelling. This is causing him a lot of pain.

His lower back has even more pain. This may or may not be directly related to the infection. The back pain may be caused by a cyst in his lower spine. He’s having to take some pretty heavy pain meds for all this, which he is usually able to avoid.

PLEASE PRAY for healing, elimination of pain, and that he would soon be able to return to work.

= = = = =

“TMI” DETAILS:
FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED

We were in Morro Bay, 6+ hours north of San Diego, on the way home from a ministry trip up north. We had gone to bed and our plans were to head home to San Diego the next day after breakfast.

About 2 a.m. on Sat Nov 1, Bill developed fever and severe chills which lasted until about 5:30.

We skipped our plans for breakfast, packed the car, and headed south.

At the gas station, Bill noticed a red circle (~5” in circumference) near the inner ankle bone of his left leg.

On the way south, Bill called and made a video-consult appointment with Express Care for 1:30 p.m.

By time 1:30 rolled around, Bill’s entire lower leg was a very dark “angry” inflamed red, and the affected area was already about 8” high. The Nurse Practitioner saw his ankle in the video and said he needed to make an in-person appointment. By this time, we were in Thousand Oaks, about three hours north of San Diego.

We drove as quickly as was legal and safe down to San Diego and arrived at the in-person Express Care in North County San Diego, and got there right before they closed. They took one look at his leg and told Bill to go to the ER right away. So, we went straight to the new UCSD ER near our house (what used to be Alvarado Hospital). He was admitted and put on strong IV antibiotics, in addition to oral antibiotics. By this time, the redness had reached the top of his calf! Everyone was concerned by the rapid expansion. The ER staff drew lines with a Sharpie marker to help determine if the redness expanded any further.

And…. TESTS! Oh, my goodness. Almost immediately, they did an EKG, followed by a CT scan, and an ultrasound scan of his leg. Eventually they did a 2D-Echo of his heart, an MRI of his whole leg, and an MRI of his lower back.

The MRI showed a cyst surrounded by some swelling between two vertebra at the base of his spine. This is actually he most painful part of this health crisis right now.

They did about 35 blood tests (including follow-ups), and 7 tests to culture his blood, looking for bacteria.

We were blessed by several visits from several of Bill’s “guys’ group” friends from church!

After 5 nights the hospital cleared him to go home and switched him to only oral antibiotics.

Since he’s been home, he’s had multiple phone calls, in-home visits, and in-clinic appointments. They are really taking this seriously!

It is a mystery what caused this. Apparently, bacteria live on our skin and can get inside if we have a cut or scratch or bite. We weren’t aware of anything like that happening, though. Maybe Bill got an insect bite on his ankle that he didn’t see or feel? The bacteria in this case was a type of Streptococcus. We don’t know yet if the back pain is directly related or not.

So we greatly appreciate your prayers!

Meanwhile, Back on Palawan…

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…God is still working!

We wanted to update you on what God continues to do among the Palawano people where we worked for 30 years.

The New Testament is Being Studied

About a week ago, the believers in our former village organized a conference to study the book of Galatians for four days using the New Testament translation we gave them eleven years ago.

The Palawano Attendees of the Galatians conference

The church leaders invited our partner Tim to come and teach. Several Palawano men also taught during the conference…

  1. ABIL was a teenager when we moved to Palawan. He was one of Bill’s translation helpers for years, and one of the guys Bill helped to disciple. He’s been a leader and a teacher in the church for many years. He’s a fiery preacher.

  2. ARNEL is another one of Bill’s translation helpers. He was a toddler when we moved to Palawan. He grew up under Bill’s teaching and found his wife Arlen in the youth group that met in our house. He plays guitar and leads worship as well as teaching God’s Word in the meetings. Arnel is a quiet, thoughtful man, and his teaching is insightful and thorough.

  3. RESHAL is the son of one of our daughter’s friends. His mom was only about 8 years old when we first met her. Now Reshal has grown up, and finished high school (which was unheard-of not that long ago). He and his sister Melani even went to a Bible College south of Manila and got their teaching credentials (a first for the Palawanos in our area!)

    Now they’re both back on Palawan, teaching in the public schools in Palawano communities, and Reshal is also helping to teach and lead in the church. Reshal is gifted at developing sermons, and he can study the Bible in three languages as he prepares, which greatly enhances his messages.
Reshal Teaching God’s Word

The Galatians Conference

Reshal’s final message on Sunday was about Galatians 4. His message was very timely because another group has moved into the area which teaches that Christians are under the law and need to keep the Sabbath, etc. A number of Palawanos have been led astray by this group’s teaching.

Reshal’s message touched many hearts. This is an answer to prayer. In our last update we asked you to pray about this group and its false teaching. Reshal said he plans to keep reteaching the content of his message in the coming weeks because so many people need to be reminded of the truth that we are under grace and no longer under the Law.

We were told that the Palawanos thanked God and us for their Bible. One man there commented about the teaching, saying, “I couldn’t get enough!” Others expressed their gratitude to the missionary who enabled Reshal to get more training so he could preach that well.

It was humbling and encouraging to hear how God’s Word continues to bear fruit from the seeds we and our partners planted long ago.

The Palawanos Still Love to Sing

Tim brought a bunch more copies of the songbooks. The Palawanos still love to sing the worship songs Bill translated. The singing part of their church service can last a half hour or more!

Someone sent us a video of the entire group as they sang Keurem! Kekseg! (“Be Bold! Be Strong!”) And here are a couple screenshots of another video showing a group of a dozen kids clapping and enthusiastically singing Metaas ey Ngaran Mo (“Lord I Lift Your Name on High.”) Watching those videos brought tears to our eyes.

Kids Singing Their Hearts Out

Our Translation is “Going Wide”

One of our missionary coworkers works in another area where the Palawanos speak a different dialect. She has been using our New Testament translation as a base, and translating it directly into that other dialect. Their team is going through all the checking procedures to test people’s understanding and the translation’s accuracy. But she said only a few important changes have to be made to produce clearly understood Scriptures for that group.

Other Updates

GLOBAL TRAINING: You may remember that back in 2021 and 2022 Bill’s team worked hard to create 30 video courses on communication principles and worldview. Those courses were used as part of a two-year online program to train missionaries from “closed” countries, where no in-person training would be possible. These trainees want training in order to reach unreached people groups in their own countries.

We knew that those 30 courses were still being used, but Bill just learned about a new class will enter that training program. This class is the largest yet—SEVENTY students–and they are from nine different countries in Africa, central Asia, SE Asia, and the Caribbean. We’re so excited to see more workers trained and sent into the harvest!

BILL’S TEAM: We’ll update you next time on the language and culture learning tools they are developing.

To Reach All Peoples

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7,244

This is the number that is before us every day: the number of people groups in the world who remain unreached (no churches, no Christians, no access to the gospel, no Scripture in their language…)

While the number 7,244 is approximate, it remains a daunting figure and motivates us daily. And to reach those people, we need to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send laborers–missionaries–to reach those groups.

The Lord is doing just that, and we’re excited that many of these laborers are being raised up from countries that used to be mission fields. Those churches now want to send their people to other unreached groups.

The reasons those groups are unreached are:

  • their language is unknown
  • their worldview is a barrier to understanding or accepting the gospel
  • they are remote and hard to access
  • they belong to other major world religions
  • they are in countries ruled by regimes that are hostile to the gospel

M.A.P.

Bill and his team are focusing on the first two: helping missionaries learn unknown languages and worldviews. To communicate God’s truth clearly requires a high level of fluency in the language, and deep insight into a people’s worldview.

Part of the online course we created for missionaries being trained remotely in closed countries include the “principles of communication” under the acronym M.A.P. “Know your Message, Know your Audience, and Know your Plan.” We’re including this in the materials we are working on how for a wide audience of missionary trainers and trainees.

KNOW YOUR MESSAGE: this one is obvious. A missionary needs to have a good understanding of the Bible! And they need to be able to explain how the plan of God’s redemption is one story from Eternity past to Eternity future.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: (this is where Bill and his team come in!) Missionaries need to gain a high level of fluency in the people’s language, a deep insight into their worldview and the implications that has for presenting Biblical truth, and they need good relationships with people–a level of trust where they have earned the right to be heard.

KNOW YOUR PLAN: (this is where our church planting consultants take over.) A missionary needs to prayerfully compare Biblical truth (a Biblical worldview) with the people’s worldview. Then they can be very strategic in dealing with all the areas where the people are likely to misunderstand. Teaching without this kind of plan results in syncretism, where the people mix Biblical concepts with their worldview.

Engage and Stages

Bill’s team is gradually rolling out a new Culture and Language learning guide (called Engage), and an amazing app called Stages) that is integrated with Engage and makes planning, elicitation, and review easier, and helps the learner reflect on the worldview.

Recently we handed some of these materials to our translation teams in Latin America. They are translating all of Engage and Stages into Spanish and Portuguese so they can be used by missionaries from those countries. We’re just about ready to give them another bunch of documents to be translated.

Our training programs in Canada, the US, and other countries are using some of these materials already. They will soon be able to use the whole program and the app. A few months ago Canada actually used the Stages app in their language learning practicum as a good beta test for us.

Our training program in Germany plans to start using some of these materials in their next semester. Many other training programs will gradually start implementing Engage and Stages soon. And not only that, we’re excited that a number of other evangelical mission agencies and training programs are anxious to use our materials to help their missionaries become better communicators of God’s truth!

Most Recent Work

Most recently, Bill has been testing the more advanced features of the Stages app, and overseeing some other people who also doing testing. He’s letting our programmers know about any bugs or issues. As he tests the app, Bill is writing the user manual, including screen shots for each step.

In testing the Stages app, some great ideas have come to light to improve the way it works. So the programmers are making those minor changes, and Bill is updating all the how-to documents and the Stages User manual to be up-to-date.

Update on the Palawanos

Bill continues to be in touch with many of the Palawanos through Facebook. He gets to answer their questions and give counsel to the men who are leading the Palawano church. Recently he learned that a Korean pastor has moved into our area. He is with another denomination that many consider to be a cult. He has used financial incentives to lure some unbelievers and even some weak believers to get baptized and join his church.

The good news is that Bill heard from Arnel, one of his translation helpers, who is helping to lead the church. He said that many of the believers are standing firm and are refusing to join the other church. They won’t even let the other pastor into their homes. Not only this, but the Palawano church is conducting new outreaches and there are many new Palawanos who have come to Christ! These new ones have gotten baptized and attend the church.

Please pray with us for the Palawano church. Pray for Arnel and Joseph, another church leader, as they do outreach and shepherd the flock. As for that other church, please pray with us that people will not be deceived. Pray that that Korean pastor will pack up and leave like many before him have done in the past.

Health Update

We’re thankful for those who have been praying for us!

The good news is that Bill’s heart has been staying in rhythm for almost a year and a half. His knee replacement a year ago was a huge success and he can easily do things he hasn’t been able to do for over ten years! One weekend he was up and down ladders all day installing screens on our rain gutters and the next day the only thing that DIDN’T hurt was his knee!

Bill’s sinus issue continues to be an issue. Write us if you want more details, but in a nutshell, for 28 months and counting, he has had excessive sinus issues. Two surgeries and lots of treatment options have not resolved this. It’s exhausting and very annoying! It affects how much we can do out in public (ever since COVID, if you cough or clear your throat in public, people can get concerned). We’ve heard people in a restaurant ask their server to move them to another table.

We try to keep our focus on the fact that it is a trial allowed by the Lord. We’re asking him to teach us through this. Bill has a video conference with his doctor on May 5.

We have some potential upcoming ministry travel to Brazil and elsewhere, but it’s hard to see how international travel or all-day teaching sessions would work. We’d appreciate your continued prayers for grace under trial, and for God to provide healing and to give the doctors wisdom in dealing with this.

Joint Projects

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Enjoying creation… checking out the spring flowers
in the nearby Borrego desert

Here’s a quick update to mention some “joint projects” we’re involved with in our ministry.

Joint Project #1: Reaching the World

Seeing the Unreached People Groups of the world reached for Christ will require a lot of effective missionaries being sent out. So that’s our main focus–developing tools and training missionaries (and training those who train missionaries). We want to multiply ourselves, and see thousands more workers go out into God’s harvest field, well-trained and able to clearly communicate God’s truth effectively cross-culturally and in a previously unknown language.

Here are some things Bill and his team have been doing recently:

  1. We’ve been busying continuing to develop the Stages mobile app that missionaries can use to learn language and culture. We’ve been fixing bugs and adding some requested features. Lord willing, we’re hoping for a new release with wider beta-testing in a month or two.
  2. Bill has been working to finalize the instructional materials for the Engage CLA (culture/language acquisition) program to be used globally by our mission and others.
  3. Bill attended the ICLL (International Congress on Language Learning), collaborating with and learning from others who help missionaries learn language and culture.
  4. At ICLL, several other mission agencies and training centers have expressed great interest in using the tools (Engage and the Stages app) that Bill’s team is developing! Some will even help with beta testing the app.
  5. Bill has recently been part of a discussion group working to better coordinate language learning, linguistics (grammar and discourse analysis), worldview discovery, evangelism, and church planting throughout Ethnos360 and all of its 30+ Global Partners worldwide.

We’re thankful for the chance to keep serving God in this phase of life, and that he’s given us an opportunity to have a part in seeing his kingdom expanded until he is worshipped by people of every tongue, tribe, people and nation!

Joint Project #2: Partnering with YOU

Seeing the Unreached People Groups of the world reached for Christ is a team effort.

We’re thankful for your part in this ministry through prayer, giving, and all kinds of encouragement. We couldn’t do this without you!

Joint Project #3: Keeping these old bodies going

The last “joint” project we wanted to mention is that Bill will be getting a total knee replacement at the end of this week, on Friday March 29.

His right knee has been an issue for years, gradually getting worse. Recently it reached a point where a new MRI confirmed that a knee replacement is the answer. Ministry travel has been on hold while he knee has flared up a few times recently, so we’re working remotely through online collaborative technology. We’re looking forward to being able to go up and down stairs easily and to painlessly walk the length and breadth of international airports soon, once he’s past his recovery period and weeks of physical therapy.

We thankful for excellent health care providers, good insurance, and most of all, an all-powerful, loving God who directs our steps, heals our bodies and encourages our hearts.

Please pray with us that the surgery will go well, that the post-op pain will be minimal, and that Bill will be able to resume full activity quickly.

Spreading the Word

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Bill Teaching Missionary Trainers and Consultants

We’re Excited!

Recently we held a week-long international training event at Ethnos360’s missionary training campus in Missouri. Bill and his team taught about 50 people who came from around the world how to use their newly-developed materials for CLA (Culture and Language Acquisition). It was fun to return to that campus. We lived there in that scenic place for two years back in the 70s (one year as students, one year as teaching staff), and our first child, Elisa, was born during those years.

The Beautiful Lake of the Ozarks, Where Ethnos360’s Campus is Located
Attendees Came from All Around the Globe

What?

After years of development, Bill and his team are thrilled to be able to start making these long-anticipated materials available. They presented Engage, their new, comprehensive guide on how to learn a language and culture step-by-step. And they demonstrated Stages, the brand-new app that will make using Engage easier. This event was the first in a series of “roll-out” events to be held around the globe over the next year or two.

Who?

The 50 attendees represented 7 nationalities, a total of 8 missionary training programs, and 11 countries of service. They will all begin to use Engage and Stages to train new missionaries, and to help missionaries reach fluency in new languages and deep insight into the culture and worldview of the unreached people groups those missionaries minister to.

Five of the attendees were from our Spanish and Portuguese resource teams. They will be translating Engage and Stages into those languages to make them available to missionaries from 8 different countries in Latin and America and SE Africa.

Consultants, Trainers and Translators from our Latin American Fields

Why?

To communicate clearly and effectively evangelize an unreached people group, missionaries need to effective communicators of God’s truth. In order to do this, they must become highly fluent in the language of the people group, and they much gain a deep insight into the people group’s worldview. But learning an unknown language and culture is a challenge, since there are no schools or resources. It has to be a do-it-yourself effort that takes several years. Engage and Stages will help to make this daunting task a little easier and will make the task of training and coaching missionaries much easier, as well.

Stages, an App Like No Other

Attendees Had the Chance to Install and Try Out the Stages App

We presented the Stages app and then let the attendees try it out for themselves. They have been waiting for this tool! Many of the workshop attendees suggested some great new features, and they helped us find a few bugs or issues with specific devices. We really appreciated their help. There is no app that has anything like the features of Stages. It will be a huge blessing to missionaries in our mission and other missions as well.

What’s Next?

Since the roll-out event in Missouri, Bill and his team have been preparing for future events by finalizing and adding to some of their materials and including many of the attendees’ suggested new features to the Stages app.

Over the coming months, Bill and some others will also record online video training courses for both Engage and Stages, making it easier to train more people globally with a little less travel. Bill is also working with the various translation teams. In addition to Spanish and Portuguese, we hope to get Engage and Stages translated into Thai, French, Indonesian, Chinese, and possibly a few other languages.

Posting Training Videos Online Will Make it Easier to Train More Missionaries More Efficiently

Please Pray

Bill and Donna – Expanding the Reach of the Gospel by Training Others to Reach the Unreached

We appreciate your prayers for us, our health, and our ministry as we labor to get many more well-trained missionaries out in the Lord’s harvest fields reaching the Unreached! Health update: since Bill’s ablation, his heart rhythm remains steady and normal, and he has his energy back. We’re so thankful for this!

A Short Update on the Palawanos…

Ispiling Selling Us Some Chickens in 2006

Please continue to pray for the Palawano church. Bill is in communication with several of the believers, including some of the men who lead the church in our old village. They are currently studying through 1 Peter in the Palawano New Testament, and seeking to build unity in the church in the face of Satan’s attacks. Bill was particularly encouraged recently to learn that his old friend Ispiling was now a believer. Ispiling was a fun guy. The whole time we lived among the Palawanos, Ispiling loved to joke and laugh with Bill on our porch, and was always ready to help with any work projects we hd, but he was never open to the Gospel. Now in his old age, God has softened his heart and he is following Christ.

Christ is Building His Church

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Here’s some news about the Palawano church where we worked for many years.

An brief update about our health concerns is at the bottom of this post.

The Church in our Longtime Palawano Village

The Church on Palawan is Thriving

We’ve received encouraging reports from coworkers (and messages from Palawanos on Facebook!) about how the church continues to meet, studying the Palawano translation and worshipping in song. We’re praising God for how he continues to work among the Palawano people.

We’ll share some pictures here below, but first…

Let Us Tell You a Story…

In 1983 our little family moved to Palawan to live among the Palawanos. We were in our 20s and our kids were young… Elisa was 4 and Bethy was not quite 8 weeks old. Elisa immediately made friends with several girls her age. One was Lini, and the other was Lini’s cousin Nili. Both of those girls grew up to help us with the translation years later.

Nili’s big sister Marlyn was about 8 years old. Marlyn grew up and married a Christian Palawano boy and they had two sons and a daughter. We treated their son Ryan with rabies shots. But we want to tell you about Ryan’s brother Reshal and his sister Melenie. What God did in their lives is beyond our wildest dreams back in 1983.

Here is picture of Melenie (in blue, on the right) when she and a friend brought a pineapple to us years ago.

Who Wouldn’t Buy a Pineapple from These Girls?!

College?!

When we first moved there, the village had no government school, not even an elementary school. But years later, schools were built nearby, and Reshal and Melenie were able to finish grade school… then high school… and they eventually, they went to a Bible college 400 miles away on the island of Luzon, just south of Manila.

They didn’t do this to get lucrative jobs and be able to live in the city. Their dream was to become school teachers and to work back in their home village. They wanted to teach the kids, and to serve in the church, as well. And since the government mandates religion classes in grade school, they knew they could teach the creation-to-Christ stories, sharing the gospel with all those kids!

Reshal and Melenie Graduating from College

Back on Palawan

So now Reshal and Melenie are back on Palawan and have finished their internship (student teaching). Here are a few pictures of the church in our former village.

Reshal Teaching in a Nearby Palawano Church during his Internship
Reshal Teaching and Arnil Playing My Old Guitar in the Church in our Village
Reshal and Melenie’s Grandmother Reading the Palawano New Testament
Abil, One of My Translation Helpers, Teaching in the Church

We’re so thankful for how the Lord continues to build his church among the Palawanos!

HEALTH UPDATE and PRAYER REQUESTS

Donna has healed up and is doing great. After conferring with her doctors, we decided there is no need for further treatment.

Bill will have his heart ablation procedure next Monday, April 10. Finally! Please pray the procedure goes well with no complications, and that his heart will return to normal rhythm quickly and permanently. He’s ready to get back to normal energy and productivity after nearly 4 months of arrhythmia.