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

Kidney Stones – Still

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A follow-up with Bill's doctor revealed that the kidney stone which
was treated with shock wave blasts was not fully fragmented as it is a
very hard type of mineral.

So he will be having a second ESWL (blasting) procedure done on Jan
15. After that we can decide together with the doctor when we can
return to Palawan

Meanwhile, Bill is working on drafting Luke and other projects, and
Donna is continuing her work on Palawano language and other projects,
including a number of counseling interactions, while we are unable to
return home to the tribe.

Yours for Reaching Palawanos,

-Bill and Donna

Kidney Stones

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While out in town we discovered that Bill had a stone in each kidney!
Praise God we learned this while we were in a place where we could
get medical attention. Our pilot is sick right now and unable to fly
so if the stone had caused an obstruction and we were in the tribe,
it would have been a real difficult emergency.

The stone on the right side was larger, so a procedure was done Dec 5
to break it into bits. That seems to have gone well.

Pending the full recovery from that, we will plan a second procedure
for the stone on the left side in the next month or so.

Meanwhile, Bill is working on drafting Luke, and Donna is continuing
her work on Palawano language and other projects while we are unable
to return home to the tribe.

Yours for Reaching Palawanos,

-Bill and Donna

Translation Check Complete!

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Whew!

Thanks to God and to all who prayed. We completed the consultant check of Acts!

We faced many difficulties… for one thing, the check went slower than expected (and Acts, as you know, is a BIG book!). 1007 verses, to be exact.

Also there were heavy storms the whole time, so the river was usually a raging flood. This makes it difficult (and dangerous) to cross. It is deep, turbulent, murky brown, and branches (and at times, whole trees) are floating past. And of course, the consultant, Ginny Sharp, was staying on the other side of the river with our partners (Tim is her son and so Tim and Monika’s girls are her granddaughters.) Nili, the Palawano helping us with the check lives on the other side, too. Some days they could not cross at all. Other times, we had to wait for the river to go down and we could only work a half day. So the check stretched over ten days total.

So with the flooding, there were exciting moments shuttling them across in a small dugout canoe, which had the interesting “design feature” of sitting low in the water and filling up as you paddled! Tim’s dad Dwight grew up on rivers in Brazil (he’s an MK) so he know how to handle a canoe. But this “lowrider” canoe was a lot safer with a 90 lb Palawano guy paddling it.

But, praise the Lord, in spite of all that, we were able to finish the last verse of Acts just at as it got dark on the night before Ginny left!! And, we’re thankful, too, that the weather allowed Ginny and her husband to fly on as planned, so they didn’t miss their commercial flight back to Mindanao the next day.

The check produced good results. It did confirm that most of the book communicated well. But it also turned up a number of passages and words that did not communicate clearly, especially to the younger generation. So we’re thankful for discovering those issues so we can fix them! I’m going to write a blog soon about some of the kinds of issues we discovered.

Another fruit of the check was that Nili asked a few other ladies to sit in on the check as her “companion.” Out of that we discovered another young woman who is willing to help… not too shy, doesn’t mind sitting there thinking all day(!) and has a desire to help us with the translation. Her name is Nursalin. She’s a young mother of 22, and we’ve known her since she was born. Her father is Susing, one of our church leaders. After she helped with the check one day, I asked her, “So, Granddaughter, it wasn’t too much of a headache, was it?”

With a sweet smile, she said, “No, Grandfather, it wasn’t hard. And I think it’s good to learn more about God’s Word.”

We’re glad that she even sees the translation process itself as a chance to learn and grow. And we’re challenged to keep pressing on to see God’s Word in Palawano… clear and alive, communicating and touching hearts among the Palawanos far and wide.

Yes, “It’s good to learn more about God’s Word.”

Yours for Reaching Palawanos,
-Bill and Donna

Checking Translation

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A BIG WEEK AHEAD

After weeks of frantic work and preparation the week of the translation check is here! Our consultant Ginny Sharp (partner Tim Sharp’s mom) is here to take us through this last step in the process of translating Acts.

The check will probably take close to a week (yep, 6 or more 8-hours days!) Acts is 1007 verses long and around 13% of the New Testament. That takes time.

The main prayer requests would be for…

ENDURANCE and clear thinking (for Bill, for Ginny and for Nili… the young Palawano woman who will work with us as we test the translation.)

WISDOM as we seek to confirm how well (and exactly what) the translation communicates, and as we hope to  discover any remaining problems needing to be fixed.

HEALTH for us all, Bill especially as last week he was hit hard with a terrible chest cold/flu. This week his asthma is acting up as an aftermath to the sickness. He’s begun the stronger “crisis” medicines, but God’s healing touch would be the best thing.

SAFETY and WEATHER as September is our rainiest month (last year: 30 inches!) Ginny and Nili are both on the other side of the river, so that means daily crossings for them. If the river floods too much, “getting to work” each day could be difficult.

God’s Word in Palawano. It’s happening… a verse, a chapter, a book at a time. Pray with us!









God is Good

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An Answer to Prayer

We were blessed today by the power and grace of God.

There is a young couple in our church (~30 years old) whom we have known since they were 5 year old kids. Now they are grown up, active in the Palawano church and have 3 children of their own. The wife is Karing, who was one of Elisa’s playmates in the 80’s. The husband is Rinard, a brother of another of Elisa’s friends; a boy who use to color our Bible story pictures we used in the evangelistic outreaches.

For a number of months, Rinard has had a cough and felt weak. Antibiotics didn’t seem to do the trick and we were afraid his childhood tuberculosis had returned. So we had him taken to town to see the doctor, who had x-rays done. His lungs looked a bit cloudy and the doctor prescribed stronger antibiotics. But the greater concern was a mass in his left lung. The doctor wanted him to come back later when more tests could be done and the other doctor would be there to help make the diagnosis.

Rinard just went out to the doctor when we fly in (read my last two blogs for more on the travel circus to get us home!) That’s the last we knew until today…

…after church Karing came running over to our house, calling to us from outside (the custom here) and crying her eyes out. When we went out to greet her, she said that Rinard had come home and that a second x-ray showed that the mass was gone. That’s right, GONE. She was crying for joy, not sorrow, and kept praising God for how he cares for his children and hears our prayers. Read Donna’s blog for more detail on what Karing was saying.

Praise God with us for his grace and healing of Rinard. Pray, too, that this will touch hearts of believers and unbelievers alike, and bear fruit for the gospel.

Yours for Reaching Palawanos,
-Bill and Donna