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.