We’re sorry to have to be offline for such a long stretch and unable to post updates due to email problems. But God is good, and he is working. Here’s a brief synopsis of things since late August.

Donna is going full-tilt in her ongoing CLA (“Culture/Language Acquisition”) as she pursues her goal of increased fluency in Palawano. This will give her an expanded role in the translation project, which in turn, will mean a sooner completion of the Palawano New Testament. She’s having fun along the way visiting Palawano women (many of them are young moms who were our daughters’ childhood friends), and working with several language helpers in her office.

Bill is VERY glad to let go of the title “construction supervisor” and go full time with ministry related activity (although the construction work itself allowed many good hours of reconnection, conversation, language re-immersion, and relationship building.) He is adding to what we already know about Palawano by doing further discourse analysis… i.e. figuring out how large sections of the language (longer narratives, rebukes, preaching, etc.) are organized, how themes are stressed, and so on. He’s having fun at this (it’s his thing, for sure!) He is also beginning to work on the book of Acts, which is in the final stages of translation before preliminary printing. Then he will resume translation full-time, most likely starting with Luke.

Bill’s asthma has also taken a rather significant surge for the better!! We are thankful for this… keep praying.

The Palawano church is steady and the men God has raised up are taking the initiative in leadership, teaching and shepherding the flock. Please pray for them. They are under many pressures and face dangers as well as potential of spiritual attacks.

Our email has been offline for a month now. Bill is in town for some other business and while there, he’s trying to get the problem fixed, but he has just one day now before he returns to the village. It’s hard to be without email now after having gotten used to it!

We been blessed to see the believers meeting on their own, and the men sharing good teaching. But recently it has been thrilling to hear Abil and others discuss on their own about plans to reach several areas (both near and far) with the gospel. There are also some isolated groups where someone preached the gospel then left and people are either confused, or else new Christians wanting to be taught… the church here is looking at how to shepherd these groups, as well.

Well time flies and soon, so do we. But first, to catch you up a bit.

Donna arrived back in the Philippines on Mother’s Day. We had a little time away together and then headed down to Palawan. Since then we’ve been shopping like mad, getting ready to move (at last?) into the tribe again, gathering months of supplies and any additional building supplies we will need to finish off the work on the house.

Somewhere in there Donna has been working on recovery from jet lag, the loss of her mom and the whirlwind of her frenetically busy last days in the USA.

We all need air, don’t we? We fly in it, and we breath it (well, granted, we don’t have much pure “air” here in Manila!) Here’s some of our recent interaction with this important substance:

The funeral for Donna’s mom was on Tuesday. Now, after a few exhausting and emotionally draining days, Donna is finishing up details in Iowa and will be heading to San Diego soon, on her way back to the Philippines. She really felt everyone’s prayers and support during this time of loss. The amazing network of friends, neighbors and family in her mom’s little community was a real blessing, too.

Bill has been back in Manila since April 7th, attending the “Team Translation Workshop.” This went well (see below.) But his asthma jumped to a critical level. A new doctor, some new medicines, and better coordination between medicines has put him on a slow road to recovery. So far, the change in his condition has been slight, but at least there is improvement! Because of this, based on his doctor’s advice and upon some other factors on Palawan, he has decided to remain in Manila until Donna returns, focusing on getting his breathing under control. He will be working on Palawano discourse analysis and other projects related to the translation while in Manila.

The translation workshop went very well. Many of the desired goals were accomplished; translators/potential translators further trained; teammates gained new insight into the challenges their translator faces; others saw how they could play more of apart in speeding the process.

We all caught a glimpse of how much more there is to learn. A number of workshop participants commented on how they were challenged to go back and push ahead in their language learning, to try and learn deeper and more natural ways to communicate God’s truth.

We appreciate your partnership in this ministry of getting God’s Word translated and into the hands (and hearts) of the Palawano people!