Healing in the Church?

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HEALING IN PALAWANO CHURCH

Just a quick update. Thanks to all who have prayed for the situation in the church here. Two family groups have been “on the outs” because they are on opposite sides of a failed marriage. Some individuals haven’t been to church in months. Some will come, but only if they are certain that members of the other families won’t be there!
This morning we saw another increase in attendance. Over 60 people. This is encouraging in itself. But we also had a number of those “offended parties” in church… all at the same time! Lin Lin, the wife in the failed marriage, was also there. She’s been living in town to avoid the gossip and hard feelings. So we might have expected some of her husband’s family to avoid church, but they were there, including her ex husband’s brother and sister, who are among those who had been absent for so long.
Donna noticed that some tears were shed (sobs, actually) during the worship and singing time. During our “welcome song,” there were a number of warm greetings. Lin Lin made a point of going around and shaking the hands of every single person, including her ex husband’s brother and sister.
Please keep praying with us that God will continue to work in hearts. Pray that he will bring forgiveness, peace, joy and warm loving fellowship between all his children here who are hurting or nursing bitterness.
Thanks again for partnering with us in Reaching the Palawanos!

Update and Coming to USA!

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TRANSLATION and MINISTRY UPDATE

We’ve seen an encouraging increase in church attendance here in the last several weeks. This morning we have 50 in church, which is nearly double what we had a couple weeks ago. We pray this trend continues! Numbers aren’t the main thing, but the more people who come and sit under the teaching of God’s Word, the better! Plus, we’re hoping that some of the inter-family problems we’ve seen here are slowly being resolved.

Translation continues… Ephesians is now pretty much done and ready to be sent to the translation consultant so she can prepare to check it. We’ll have her come and check several books at once in early 2009. Meanwhile, we’re drafting, revising and checking Luke and 1 Peter. We’re anxious to see these books completed and in the hands of the believers here!
We just had copies printed of the recently-completed book of Acts. The people here are excited to have this book in their possession, and in their language, for the first time ever! On Saturday mornings, Bill is teaching a Bible study, going through Acts verse-by-verse. This is mostly the for men who want to teach, and he’s handing out study notes for them. But others are welcome to sit in and so we’ve had older women, kids, teens and some men who are not teachers attending. Pray for much fruit from this study.
Pray with us as to work to see as much translation completed as possible by mid-October.

UPCOMING PLANS
Pray with us as in mid-October we will be taking a break and heading to San Diego for a short home assignment. We’ll be visiting many supporters and churches, and spending the holidays with our kids before returning the Philippines in mid January.
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone!
Praise the Lord we have a place to stay (our church’s missionary apartment) for a reasonable price. But we’d appreciate prayer for the other logistics and needs… a car to use while we’re home, provision for airfare and the other expenses of such a trip, including things we need to buy and bring back to the Philippines.
Thanks again for partnering with us in Reaching the Palawanos!

Acts Conference

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We praise God for a really successful conference April 25-27. The
church here studied Acts 1-6, hearing it in Palawano for the first
time ever! Six different men taught, some teaching for the first time
in front of the group. The older kids and teens were assigned to read
the passages to the congregation before the men taught, and they did
great! Kids, teens and some adults went crazy with the memory verses
Bill assigned! It was such a blessing to see everyone encouraged and
challenged by the boldness of the Spirit-filled apostles as they
preached of the resurrection they had personally witnessed!

Ruben, a Palawano teacher and church leader from the Megkalip area
north of us (Jim Wilson discipled Ruben's dad Taya in the 80's) came
for the first two days of the conference and gave a great message on
faith.

The weekend was topped off with a baptism, only two individuals, but
both special to us. Bingbing, one of Donna's faithful workers, was
baptized, giving a clear testimony of her strong faith. And Ula, a
young adult paraplegic, was also baptized. She's the reason our tribal
church has “handicap access,” something you might not expect! And her
sweet spirit is always so uplifting (she also memorized the most
number of verses, by the way.) Her wheelchair was carried down the
trail and placed in a few feet of water (her first time to ever be in
the river, she said), and the men baptized her.

This past week we finished the revision and rechecking of Acts 7-28.
Now we can do some editing and print books for the church!

Continue to pray for some issues within the church here. A couple of
individuals are nursing hurt feelings and it's hurting themselves and
affecting others, too. Basically the church is split down the line
between two family groups who are on the opposites of a struggling
marriage. Bill has counseled the couple, and various family members.
God seems to be working, but the enemy is looking for more chances to
destroy unity.

God Working in Susing

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Hot news from here among the Palawanos…

It’s 90 degrees in the house today. Could it be that dry season has finally arrived? Although the heat saps us, we pray that there will be a time of heat and the dry winds necessary for the Palawanos to burn this year’s fields. So far it’s been raining often and even on sunny days there just isn’t the blazing intensity and wind needed.


In our last update, We asked prayer for some men who have previously played key roles in the church here, Susing and Tirso. We in the week following that, God seems to be working in Susing’s heart. True to the culture here, Bill hear indirectly (from Susing’s brother Abil, our main church leader and teacher), about the issues underlying Susing’s discouragement. Bill then sent some thoughts back to Susing via Abil (Biblical counseling within the cultural pattern of having a go-between whenever possible.) Bill basically shared that when Satan can’t get you to fall into sin, he may try to get you discouraged. Focused on the struggle to support a large family. Listening to the unjust criticism that always dogs a leaders steps. Getting tired of it all. But in translating Ephesians we see that God gives “gifted men” to the church. Not all are meant to be leaders or teachers. So those who have those gifts need to use them… and they will be targets.

It seems Susing took this to heart, and along with your prayers, God has encouraged him. He came to help Bill with translation with his old “sparkle” back. He was at church this morning. And he’s talking about wanting to be involved with teaching at the upcoming conference the end of this month.

We are pleased with really good progress in translating Ephesians. We’ve gone through the first five steps. Soon the first couple chapters will be tested for comprehension… to see how they communicate the intended meaning to a fresh audience.

Please continue to pray for Susing, and for Tirso, who continues to hang back, uninvolved in the things of the Lord as he was in times past. Pray for the translation of God’s Word and for our upcoming conference (April 25-27) when Bill and a number of the men will teach through Acts 1-6, heard for the very first time in Palawano! Pray for us for endurance (remember, it’s 90 degrees in the house!), for health and wisdom in this ministry.

Thanks for your part in Reaching Palawanos!





Busy With Translation

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We are home in the tribe, and settled in again to our work here. Bill
is “cleaning up his Acts.” That is, all the issues that showed up
during the consultant check on the book of Acts need to be gone over
and re-worked. Some things he can do himself, and other items need
input and help from his translation committee of Palawano believers.
Then each change needs to be re-checked for comprehension, twice, with
two different individuals who haven't been involved in the process so
far. Bill is using Arnel, a young Christian man, and Nursalin, a young
mother. Arnel comes Fridays, Nursalin comes Wednesdays, and the
translation committee comes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Bill has also drafted Ephesians, and is working through that at the
same time. The translation committee gives input into the draft. For
the next step, Donna takes what they have worked over, and reads it to
Rini, who then puts the meaning into her own words, which Donna
records. Bill then listens to those recordings to see what he can
glean in terms of more natural ways of expressing the meaning. Soon
we'll begin exegetical checking and testing for comprehension on this
book, as well.

And so the days go. Please pray for all these people involved in
helping us with this job. We depend on them! And for us, for daily
strength and wisdom.

We mentioned in previous updates that Bill might need a surgery for
his parathyroid gland. Further lab tests have ruled out the need for
that surgery. We are thankful for that news. Thanks for praying for us.

Right now our hearts are burdened for many needs among the people
here. Over the years, a number of key believers have been side-lined
from functioning in the church. There are many causes: quarrels among
themselves, distractions from the world, jealousy. We are praying that
the Holy Spirit would do a strong work among the Palawano believers
and bring them back into a vital relationship with Christ. We are
missing key members of the body here, and it isn't functioning as well
as it could. Would you please join us in praying for a revival among
the Palawanos? We would especially request prayer for Tirso and
Susing. Both men have great gifts God has used in the church here in
the past, but today neither one is plugged into the body. Tirso is
also a clan leader for an area called “Rora.” We would love to see
Rora come alive spiritually again.

Thank you for your part in Reaching Palawanos!

-Donna and Bill

Stones, Flu and Translation

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Health and Ministry Updates…

In February, we had a THIRD blasting procedure done on Bill's kidney
stones. But once again there was no apparent result. Please pray that
the stones will either pass on their own (and without too much pain or
requiring an emergency flight out of the tribe) or that they will
simply “stay put” and let us get on with life! We've had about enough
of doctor appointments, procedures and all the delays involved with
that!

Also, the tests to determine the cause of the stones produced mixed
results and the doctors' final conclusion is that it is NOT related to
overactive parathyroid, so there is no surgery on the horizon.

Right now we are back in the tribe, translating Ephesians and Luke and
finalizing the book of Acts (fixing all the problems discovered during
the consultant check). We plan to have the Palawanos study Acts 1-6
during their upcoming annual conference the end of April. We trust
that the content of those challenging and exciting chapters will be a
blessing to them as they hear it in their own language for the first
time! On Sundays lately, Bill is teaching through Nehemiah and he
plans to resume his Saturday morning Bible Study soon, focusing on
training the Palawano Bible teachers.

There is a lot of sickness among the Palawanos lately. A very painful
stomach flu and a long-lasting chest flu have hit many of the small
children and babies and everyone is of course very concerned. We are
helping the clinic workers to deal with the complicated cases,
including some where pneumonia has set it. And there is always
malaria, which is very opportunistic and often strikes the children
when they are run down from other illnesses.

Meanwhile, it's been a very rainy beginning to “dry” season.
Personally, we are enjoying the more pleasant weather, but it is a
problem for the Palawanos as they are afraid they will not be able to
burn their new fields. Inadequate burning means lots of weeds, which
means a poor harvest and therefore a longer “hungry season” next year.
So pray with us that the Lord provides the weather needed to produce
food for the community.

And pray, too, that the Word of God will continue to bear a fruitful
harvest in the hearts of the Palawanos, and for us as we translate
more books in the coming months.

Yours for Reaching Palawanos,

-Bill and Donna