There are three questions people keep asking us, so here are the answers all in one place!

1. Did the Typhoon Affect  The Palawanos?

The answer to that question is “No, the Palawanos were not affected. That area was too far to the south.”

But this has been a sad and sobering week with the news of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda)’s destructive rampage across the Philippines. The pictures and news are beyond heartbreaking. We know people in other regions who were affected. Some are still not accounted for. See the map here to get an idea of the various locations and the distances involved. We also know a Filipino pastor’s family on the island of Panay (middle of the map, just below the red line) whose home and church were damaged. Our partner Lynn Bright’s parents and siblings were on an island just north of the red line–safe, but affected.

Path of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) and Affected Areas

2. What is the Status of the Palawano Translation?

We sent the Print Proof copy back to the Philippines. It arrived, but… it looks like it was thrown under the wheels of the DHL truck (see the photo). The pages of the book are all broken apart and some of the pages look like they were run over a few times in a wet street! We’re working that out with DHL as far as the poor service after the (exorbitant!) shipping costs. But meanwhile, we’re thankful that Bill listed all the errors in a document which the printers are using now to make all the needed corrections.

DHL. Our Motto: “Ya want the insurance with that, right?”

So we’re waiting to hear when the printer will send us the follow-up proof. Once all the errors have been corrected, the book can go to printing.

3. When Are We Traveling to the Philippines?

We (still) don’t know. Once we learn the projected completion date of the printing, we can make plans to travel to Palawan for dedication services and distribution. We are praying that might be sometime in February or March. After that, we would return to the USA and travel around the country to celebrate this exciting milestone with our supporters and to praise God together for what he has done!

Meanwhile, we’re staying busy with some speaking opportunities. Our time at the International Congress on Language Learning in Colorado was amazing. It was an encouraging time and we had some really profitable and helpful times of interaction there. Recently, Bill has been invited to teach some seminars on language learning. He had the pulpit for one Sunday of our church’s Missions Conference. We will be volunteer poll workers for San Diego’s mayoral election. It looks like Donna might have jury duty. And then, of course, there’s those awesome grandkids…

Praise the Lord with us…
– for the great time at the ICLL
– for this refreshing season with family and friends
– for good health

Please pray with us…
– that the errors in the New Testament would be quickly taken care of
– for those thousands of Filipinos who have lost their homes and loved ones
– that God would lead us to others who might partner with us in reaching the unreached

Reaching Palawanos (and the world!) together with you,

– Bill and Donna

Thank you for praying. So far, Donna has caught 30 errors in the Palawano New Testament proof copy:

• 20 crooked pages
• 4 blurred or smudged pages
• 1 missing page, and
• 4 sets of pages in reverse order (e.g. pg. 116 coming after pg. 117)

So we’re going to give it a few more really careful checks before sending it back to the printers.

We assume (but aren’t sure) that they have to correct the mistakes and send us another copy to approve before actual printing begins.

ICLL…
Bill continues to work on his workshop presentations, and to communicate with the other members of the steering committee as they finalize ICLL plans.

Bill will be sharing about the “Top Ten Mistakes Language Learners Make (And How To Avoid Them!)” and a session about the need for learners to focus on language, culture and relationships (not just language). He may also be involved in some panel discussions, plus all the networking and brainstorming over meals.

67 attendees from 30 different mission agencies and schools have signed up for the ICLL. Each of these is involved in helping many missionaries to communicate the gospel clearly in another language. We’re excited about the potential the ICLL has to speed up the work of reaching the unreached.

Praise the Lord with us…
– that we’re finding the errors in the Palawano New Testament!
– for provision for nearly all the cost of attending ICLL
– for opportunities to share about our ministry in local churches

Please pray with us…
– that we would find all the rest of the errors in the proof copy
– for Bill’s sessions at the ICLL to be clear and helpful
– that we would be a blessing to those around us

Reaching Palawanos (and the world!) together with you,

– Bill and Donna

DHL.

DHL who?

Well, DHL the document delivery service who arrived today with a very important package:

THE PROOF OF THE PALAWANO NEW TESTAMENT IS HERE!

We are thrilled to announce that it is in our hands here in San Diego. Praise the Lord with us.

And at first glance, it looks awesome. Of course, it needs a second glance. And a third. And… lots of very thorough checking. Way more than just glances. But we’re excited to get started.

The book is quite a bit thicker than the final NT will be, since the proof didn’t use the high-quality, thin Bible paper. Our job now in these next few weeks is to check for pages out of order, wrong page numbering, chapters or verses in the wrong order, inconsistent ink, etc.

Bill is busy getting ready for the ICLL (International Congress on Language Learning), which is coming up in a few short weeks. So Donna will be looking at the NT first while he fine-tunes his presentations and Powerpoints for the workshop. Then he’ll take his turn.

Please pray that we find any and all errors that need to be corrected. We need good eyes and a high level of concentration to check over 1000 pages several times each.

NT Dedications and Distribution…
Once the proof is back at the printers in Manila and they give us an estimated finish date, we will be able to plan and schedule all of this. So once again: Stay Tuned!

ICLL…
God continues to provide for the remaining ICLL costs. We only need about $600 to cover everything.

Praise the Lord with us…
– that the mock-up of the Palawano New Testament is HERE!
– for provision for much of the cost of attending ICLL

Please pray with us…
– that we would find any and all errors in the in the proof copy
– for God’s provision of the remaining ~$600 needed for attending the ICLL
– that we would be a blessing to those around us

Reaching Palawanos (and the world!) together with you,

– Bill and Donna

It’s COMING…
Rejoice with us!

Yesterday we learned that the Bible Society has delivered the “print proof copy” of the Palawano New Testament to the SIL/Wycliffe office in Manila. We’re so excited.

This copy will be sent to us in the coming week, and we will have to get busy combing through it for typos, mistakes, pages out of order, etc. Once all the issues are resolved, it goes to print.

ICLL…
We asked for prayer concerning the upcoming ICLL (International Congress on Language Learning) in Colorado Springs in early October, and the Lord has answered.

God has provided several generous gifts and we were able to register and purchase tickets to Colorado. We have what we need for basic registration and travel. Continue to pray with us that God would provide the additional costs involved in attending the conference (approx $800). We know he is able!

NT Dedications and Distribution…
We are closer than ever, but once again, all we can say at this point is: Stay Tuned!

Praise the Lord with us…
– that the mock-up of the Palawano New Testament is on its way
– for provision for much of the cost of attending ICLL

Pray with us…
– that there would be minimal errors (or none!) in the proof copy
– for God’s provision of the remaining costs of attending the ICLL
– that we would be a blessing to those around us

Reaching Palawanos (and the world!) together with you,

– Bill and Donna

We’re waiting…
For now, that’s all we can say when people ask us about the Palawano New Testament. The files for the translation have been at PBS (the Philippine Bible Society) for two months already. PBS will assign the NT to a print shop in Manila. We’re waiting for the printer to send us a mock-up copy of the printed NT so we can check for any errors in set-up and page orientation, etc. Once that mock-up gets here, we will have several weeks of full-time, intensive proofreading and checking to do. In the meantime, we wait.

While we wait…
One of the projects Bill has been working on in this interim is to prepare several sessions to present at the ICLL (International Congress on Language Learning) in Colorado Springs in early October.

The ICLL happens every three years. It’s an important conference for those who help missionaries learn language. Missionary consultants, language coaches, teachers, program directors and others from all over the world come to ICLL network, to be encouraged, to learn, to share ideas, and to return home better able to turn new missionaries into skilled communicators who can effectively disciple and plant churches cross-culturally.

Bill has been serving on the steering committee of the ICLL since 2001, and he has enjoyed and appreciated the many like-minded language learning facilitators he has met and worked with. After his first ICLL in 2001, he and others working in Asia started a recurring conference for helping language learners in Asia.

Right now we are checking into travel options for the ICLL. It seems like it might be cheaper to fly there than to drive at today’s gasoline prices, not to mention saving time and eliminating four hotel overnights going and coming while on the road. Whether we fly or travel by land, we’re asking God to provide what we need for travel and registration expenses for the conference.

We appreciate each one of you who partner with us in prayer, and we’ll keep you updated during this time of waiting for the New Testament to be printed. Once we have an approximate date for printing, we can being preliminary planning for dedication services and distribution teams on Palawan.

Pray with us…
– that we would would quickly receive the mock-up of the Palawano New Testament
        so that we can review it and initiate actual printing as soon as possible.
– that there would be minimal errors (or none!)
– for God’s provision of the travel and registration costs for the ICLL.
– that we would be a blessing to those around us.

Reaching Palawanos—and the world—together with you,

-Bill and Donna

TRANSLATION UPDATE
The translation is done! And the audio recording is completed. So now we are waiting for the Palawano New Testaments to be printed in Manila. Once the books are printed, we’ll be taking a trip or two to the Philippines to check the books for quality, to host dedication services, and to launch distribution.

We won’t know the dates for that until we hear from the printers. So please pray and stay tuned.

MEANWHILE
We’re enjoying this time with our kids, grandkids, family, friends and supporters. God is refreshing us after the intense final months of translation and recording.

In May, we were blessed to host Gracia Burnham here in San Diego. She spoke in our church and at a missions training program called Radius in Tijuana. We also showed her around beautiful San Diego: La Jolla, Mount Soledad, and the famous Hotel Del Coronado.

Not long after Gracia’s visit, Bill was invited to spend a couple days at Radius, speaking to their students about language learning. We were excited to have even a small part in training these young people who are headed out into the unreached areas of the world to share Christ!

We’ve also had opportunities to teach Bible studies and to share at missions conferences and visit some of our supporting churches. Coming up in October, Bill will be helping to lead an inter-mission language learning conference in Colorado.

On a personal note, spending time with our daughters, and getting to know our two delightful grandchildren and being a part of their lives has been the highlight of these past couple months.

PLEASE PRAY WITH US
– Refreshment and good health
– Opportunities to share about this ministry
– Reconnection with supporters & friends
– Prompt, accurate printing of Palawano NT
– Provision for Oct travel & workshop costs

We appreciate everyone’s prayers, support and encouragement as we anticipate the printing of the Palawano New Testament!

Reaching Palawanos with you,

– Bill and Donna Bill and Donna Davis