Palawanos

To Reach All Peoples

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7,244

This is the number that is before us every day: the number of people groups in the world who remain unreached (no churches, no Christians, no access to the gospel, no Scripture in their language…)

While the number 7,244 is approximate, it remains a daunting figure and motivates us daily. And to reach those people, we need to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send laborers–missionaries–to reach those groups.

The Lord is doing just that, and we’re excited that many of these laborers are being raised up from countries that used to be mission fields. Those churches now want to send their people to other unreached groups.

The reasons those groups are unreached are:

  • their language is unknown
  • their worldview is a barrier to understanding or accepting the gospel
  • they are remote and hard to access
  • they belong to other major world religions
  • they are in countries ruled by regimes that are hostile to the gospel

M.A.P.

Bill and his team are focusing on the first two: helping missionaries learn unknown languages and worldviews. To communicate God’s truth clearly requires a high level of fluency in the language, and deep insight into a people’s worldview.

Part of the online course we created for missionaries being trained remotely in closed countries include the “principles of communication” under the acronym M.A.P. “Know your Message, Know your Audience, and Know your Plan.” We’re including this in the materials we are working on how for a wide audience of missionary trainers and trainees.

KNOW YOUR MESSAGE: this one is obvious. A missionary needs to have a good understanding of the Bible! And they need to be able to explain how the plan of God’s redemption is one story from Eternity past to Eternity future.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: (this is where Bill and his team come in!) Missionaries need to gain a high level of fluency in the people’s language, a deep insight into their worldview and the implications that has for presenting Biblical truth, and they need good relationships with people–a level of trust where they have earned the right to be heard.

KNOW YOUR PLAN: (this is where our church planting consultants take over.) A missionary needs to prayerfully compare Biblical truth (a Biblical worldview) with the people’s worldview. Then they can be very strategic in dealing with all the areas where the people are likely to misunderstand. Teaching without this kind of plan results in syncretism, where the people mix Biblical concepts with their worldview.

Engage and Stages

Bill’s team is gradually rolling out a new Culture and Language learning guide (called Engage), and an amazing app called Stages) that is integrated with Engage and makes planning, elicitation, and review easier, and helps the learner reflect on the worldview.

Recently we handed some of these materials to our translation teams in Latin America. They are translating all of Engage and Stages into Spanish and Portuguese so they can be used by missionaries from those countries. We’re just about ready to give them another bunch of documents to be translated.

Our training programs in Canada, the US, and other countries are using some of these materials already. They will soon be able to use the whole program and the app. A few months ago Canada actually used the Stages app in their language learning practicum as a good beta test for us.

Our training program in Germany plans to start using some of these materials in their next semester. Many other training programs will gradually start implementing Engage and Stages soon. And not only that, we’re excited that a number of other evangelical mission agencies and training programs are anxious to use our materials to help their missionaries become better communicators of God’s truth!

Most Recent Work

Most recently, Bill has been testing the more advanced features of the Stages app, and overseeing some other people who also doing testing. He’s letting our programmers know about any bugs or issues. As he tests the app, Bill is writing the user manual, including screen shots for each step.

In testing the Stages app, some great ideas have come to light to improve the way it works. So the programmers are making those minor changes, and Bill is updating all the how-to documents and the Stages User manual to be up-to-date.

Update on the Palawanos

Bill continues to be in touch with many of the Palawanos through Facebook. He gets to answer their questions and give counsel to the men who are leading the Palawano church. Recently he learned that a Korean pastor has moved into our area. He is with another denomination that many consider to be a cult. He has used financial incentives to lure some unbelievers and even some weak believers to get baptized and join his church.

The good news is that Bill heard from Arnel, one of his translation helpers, who is helping to lead the church. He said that many of the believers are standing firm and are refusing to join the other church. They won’t even let the other pastor into their homes. Not only this, but the Palawano church is conducting new outreaches and there are many new Palawanos who have come to Christ! These new ones have gotten baptized and attend the church.

Please pray with us for the Palawano church. Pray for Arnel and Joseph, another church leader, as they do outreach and shepherd the flock. As for that other church, please pray with us that people will not be deceived. Pray that that Korean pastor will pack up and leave like many before him have done in the past.

Health Update

We’re thankful for those who have been praying for us!

The good news is that Bill’s heart has been staying in rhythm for almost a year and a half. His knee replacement a year ago was a huge success and he can easily do things he hasn’t been able to do for over ten years! One weekend he was up and down ladders all day installing screens on our rain gutters and the next day the only thing that DIDN’T hurt was his knee!

Bill’s sinus issue continues to be an issue. Write us if you want more details, but in a nutshell, for 28 months and counting, he has had excessive sinus issues. Two surgeries and lots of treatment options have not resolved this. It’s exhausting and very annoying! It affects how much we can do out in public (ever since COVID, if you cough or clear your throat in public, people can get concerned). We’ve heard people in a restaurant ask their server to move them to another table.

We try to keep our focus on the fact that it is a trial allowed by the Lord. We’re asking him to teach us through this. Bill has a video conference with his doctor on May 5.

We have some potential upcoming ministry travel to Brazil and elsewhere, but it’s hard to see how international travel or all-day teaching sessions would work. We’d appreciate your continued prayers for grace under trial, and for God to provide healing and to give the doctors wisdom in dealing with this.

Spreading the Word

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Bill Teaching Missionary Trainers and Consultants

We’re Excited!

Recently we held a week-long international training event at Ethnos360’s missionary training campus in Missouri. Bill and his team taught about 50 people who came from around the world how to use their newly-developed materials for CLA (Culture and Language Acquisition). It was fun to return to that campus. We lived there in that scenic place for two years back in the 70s (one year as students, one year as teaching staff), and our first child, Elisa, was born during those years.

The Beautiful Lake of the Ozarks, Where Ethnos360’s Campus is Located
Attendees Came from All Around the Globe

What?

After years of development, Bill and his team are thrilled to be able to start making these long-anticipated materials available. They presented Engage, their new, comprehensive guide on how to learn a language and culture step-by-step. And they demonstrated Stages, the brand-new app that will make using Engage easier. This event was the first in a series of “roll-out” events to be held around the globe over the next year or two.

Who?

The 50 attendees represented 7 nationalities, a total of 8 missionary training programs, and 11 countries of service. They will all begin to use Engage and Stages to train new missionaries, and to help missionaries reach fluency in new languages and deep insight into the culture and worldview of the unreached people groups those missionaries minister to.

Five of the attendees were from our Spanish and Portuguese resource teams. They will be translating Engage and Stages into those languages to make them available to missionaries from 8 different countries in Latin and America and SE Africa.

Consultants, Trainers and Translators from our Latin American Fields

Why?

To communicate clearly and effectively evangelize an unreached people group, missionaries need to effective communicators of God’s truth. In order to do this, they must become highly fluent in the language of the people group, and they much gain a deep insight into the people group’s worldview. But learning an unknown language and culture is a challenge, since there are no schools or resources. It has to be a do-it-yourself effort that takes several years. Engage and Stages will help to make this daunting task a little easier and will make the task of training and coaching missionaries much easier, as well.

Stages, an App Like No Other

Attendees Had the Chance to Install and Try Out the Stages App

We presented the Stages app and then let the attendees try it out for themselves. They have been waiting for this tool! Many of the workshop attendees suggested some great new features, and they helped us find a few bugs or issues with specific devices. We really appreciated their help. There is no app that has anything like the features of Stages. It will be a huge blessing to missionaries in our mission and other missions as well.

What’s Next?

Since the roll-out event in Missouri, Bill and his team have been preparing for future events by finalizing and adding to some of their materials and including many of the attendees’ suggested new features to the Stages app.

Over the coming months, Bill and some others will also record online video training courses for both Engage and Stages, making it easier to train more people globally with a little less travel. Bill is also working with the various translation teams. In addition to Spanish and Portuguese, we hope to get Engage and Stages translated into Thai, French, Indonesian, Chinese, and possibly a few other languages.

Posting Training Videos Online Will Make it Easier to Train More Missionaries More Efficiently

Please Pray

Bill and Donna – Expanding the Reach of the Gospel by Training Others to Reach the Unreached

We appreciate your prayers for us, our health, and our ministry as we labor to get many more well-trained missionaries out in the Lord’s harvest fields reaching the Unreached! Health update: since Bill’s ablation, his heart rhythm remains steady and normal, and he has his energy back. We’re so thankful for this!

A Short Update on the Palawanos…

Ispiling Selling Us Some Chickens in 2006

Please continue to pray for the Palawano church. Bill is in communication with several of the believers, including some of the men who lead the church in our old village. They are currently studying through 1 Peter in the Palawano New Testament, and seeking to build unity in the church in the face of Satan’s attacks. Bill was particularly encouraged recently to learn that his old friend Ispiling was now a believer. Ispiling was a fun guy. The whole time we lived among the Palawanos, Ispiling loved to joke and laugh with Bill on our porch, and was always ready to help with any work projects we hd, but he was never open to the Gospel. Now in his old age, God has softened his heart and he is following Christ.

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.

Lini’s Surgery

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Your Generous Gifts, 1st Installment

Success!

Lini had her surgery and it was a success and she’s already feeling better and able to walk a bit. Thanks for praying!

We learned that she was taken to the better of the two hospitals in the town of Brookes Point. So she’s at the Leoncio private hospital. We’re thankful, because this means she will get a much better quality of care there. It will cost more, but the Lord has so abundantly provided through generous donors, this will not be a problem.

❤️ It really seems that more than enough money has come in. So please check with us before sending any more gifts ❤️

Lini’s nephew Tato is handling things and running errands for them. Lini’s husband Lito is with her inside the hospital and he can’t leave the hospital and get back in due to COVID protocols. Tato picked up the first installment of your gifts from the remittance office. One of the many place he was able to get the cash was the Palawan Pawn Shop. It’s amazing how easy it was to send the money. And the transfer was INSTANT! Literally 2 minutes after I click “send,” the money is there and can be picked up.

Over the years, in our updates you have heard the names Abil and Arturo and Susing. They have been Palawano church leaders and some of our main translation helpers. Susing was the voice for the audio recording of the New Testament. So you might be interested to know that all three of those men are Lini’s brothers. And Tato is Abil’s son.

In the pictures, you can see your dollars turned into the pretty colors of Philippine pesos. I didn’t ask for these pics, but Tato sent them to verify that he had gotten the money!

Tato Picking Up Cash

Why That Hospital?

This is an “interesting” story and illustrates a lot of the culture and how things work on Palawan.

The closest hospital to Lini’s home is run by a foreign mining company. It has pretty good care and international doctors. The mining company is supposed to provide lots of benefits for Palawanos like Lini since they are mining on Palawanos’ ancestral land. (Don’t get me started, but this is an environmental nightmare, if nothing else.)

However, some of Lini’s family members are tribal leaders who are anti-mine and trying to stop the illegal mining planned for their side of the mountain. That is the lush river valley where we lived and ministered for all those years. Because of that, those Palawan men are not on the mining company’s “happy list.” So the local government “civil servants” who are supposed to give Lini her papers to prove she is “native” Palawano refused because they are in the pocket of the mining company. So Lini would not get the native discount at that hospital, and every aspect of the experience there would be difficult because of a lack of cooperation at every turn.

Leoncio General Hospital

So we had her taken to the town of Brookes Point. We have contacts in Brookes where Lini and the others can stay. After she is released, she will need a place to rest and regain her strength until she feels up to traveling home on a bumpy dirt road.

It was recommended by our missionaries on Palawan to try to get her into the private Leoncio General Hospital. That hospital at first refused to admit her because she didn’t have the cash yet to pay up front. But Lini’s husband Lito said, “Please admit my wife. A person’s life is worth more than money. And God will provide.” So Lini was admitted. She’ll get better care, and because of your generous gifts, it will be a testimony to the hospital staff that God provides, and that these poor-but-honest Palawanos will indeed pay their bills in full.

Why So Little News?

There are several reasons for this. First of all, the Philippines is 16 hours ahead of California, so there are only about 4 hours a day where it is waking hours simultaneously for us and the Palawanos. Sometimes Bill has been checking his phone and writing messages at 3 a.m. to keep the ball rolling.

Also, the Palawanos are communicating via Facebook Messenger. They are writing in Palawano, and Bill is fluent (he was the Bible translator for this language, remember!) However, they use shortcuts and “textspeak.” They misspell words and leave out critical punctuation. So deciphering their messages is sometimes quite a puzzle. Good thing Bill likes puzzles!

And then they don’t always provide the information we were wanting. They tell us what seems important to them and assume we know things. So we have to ask more questions, and then wait until the next time the Palawanos are awake to answer. Also the hospital is very slow to give them information and Palawanos are too culturally timid to demand answers.

So patience is a good virtue to have in these situations!

More updates coming as we learn more!

Urgent Prayer Request

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UPDATE ON HOW TO GIVE

Hi,
Some of you have mentioned having trouble with donating to Lini’s medical expenses.

Apparently the scheme I described creates issues with IRS rules. I apologize. The mission is not allowed to have a designation “for Lini,” since she is neither a member of the mission or an official “project” of Ethnos360.

The way around this, if you received an error message or an email is to simple give the gift to our account without mentioning Lini. You can tell us that you gave, or we can figure that out by simply noting non-regular gifts credited to our account during these few days.

I’m sorry for the hassle. We appreciate your generosity. We’re working with Lini to figure out the best hospital option and will keep you posted.

-Bill and Donna

 

UPDATE ON YOUR GENEROUS RESPONSE

Wow… we were blown away by the rapid and generous response of God’s people! With the gifts already sent or promised, we now have plenty for Lini’s expenses and a buffer for unexpected extras! So unless you have already send a gift or promised a gift to us today, you don’t need to give unless you just feel led to do so.

We’ll let you know the total amount once it’s final. We will use the funds to cover Lini’s expenses, then to cover any extra expenses that are part of this medical emergency. Then if there are leftover funds, We will let you know. We will set them aside for a future medical emergency to be used in the spirit in which they were given. But if you would like to redisignate your gift or be reimbursed, you can let us know at that time.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We can let Lini know that God’s people rallied and met her need in a matter of a few hours. We will tell her that so many have assured us of their prayers as well. With joy we can tell her about the loving generous people of God that are part of our ministry team!

We’ll post a regular ministry update soon. But first we need to get this urgent request out today because of a medical emergency for our friend Lini. She needs your prayers!

Lini and Elisa – friends from the start

Lini

We’ve talked about Lini a lot over the years. She was Elisa’s best friend in the tribe from the very first day they met when Lini was 3 and a half and Elisa was only 4.

When Lini grew up, she was a faithful believer and became one of our main translation helpers. She worked with Donna on the recording-for-accuracy process. And because of her intelligence and skill, she was the helper Bill always scheduled for our final consultant comprehension checks.

Working on the translation at the end was difficult for her as a young mother of three. She would have to leave her family in the village and travel to town for a week at a time with her youngest child. He would get bit by gnats in our yard and have allergic reactions to the bites. But in spite of all this, she told Bill:

“Uncle Bill, this is hard, but I’m going to keep working on translation with you until we’re done because it’s so important to get God’s Word into the hands of all the other Palawanos!”

Lini worked tirelessly with Donna on the translation
Lini after the Final Comprehension Check

Appendicitis!

We’ve recently learned that Lini has appendicitis. So far her appendix has not ruptured, and we’re thankful for that. The doctors initially prescribed powerful antibiotics, which were quite expensive. We sent Lini a few hundred dollars to cover the costs, but the medication did not solve the problem. She is still weak and in a lot of pain.

So now the doctors have told Lini that her only option is surgery. This is complicated and risky in a provincial hospital on Palawan. It is also much more than her family can afford. She was told the cost will be 90,000 pesos. That is only US$2,000, which is not much by American standards for medical expenses, but for her family it’s an impossible amount. And it’s more than we can fully cover. The total will likely exceed this amount, because unlike our system here, Philippine hospitals require the family to go out and buy all the patient’s supplies like IVs, medication and syringes, etc., out of pocket.

Please Pray

So first and foremost we’re asking everyone to please pray for Lini. Pray for her health as she is currently in a lot of pain. Pray for her appendix not to burst and for a successful surgery with no complications or infections, etc. Pray for her husband Lito and their daughters during this difficult time. Pray that the faith she and her family have would be a testimony to the doctors and hospital staff, pointing them to Jesus.

If you would like to help with her medical expenses, Lini and her family would be very grateful. You can SEND ANY GIFTS THROUGH OUR ACCOUNT. Just click on that link, and make sure to make a note “for Lini” where it says to “add instructions, designations or notes.” Our office will forward 100% of your gifts to us and we will send the money directly to Lini’s husband Lito.

Thank you for your partnership in our ministry. It means the world to us, and to the Palawanos. The Palawano church is growing because you have stood with us through the years.

Fire & Ice

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Tomorrow, Bill is heading to our training center in Missouri where they teach our missionaries how to learn the language and culture of Unreached People Groups. He will take 3 days to update the staff there on the latest version of the CLA (Culture/Language Acquisition) program his team is developing.

He’ll also be meeting with a missionary who will be joining his CLA Development team full-time. We’re thankful for how this will enhance and speed up the project.

Fire

Taal volcano erupting
Taal Volcano

The Taal volcano in the Philippines is erupting. It is near where we studied Tagalog in Lipa City in 1982, so several of our former teachers live still in the area.

Two Palawano young people, a brother and sister named Risyal (“Resh”) and Melanie, are currently attending a Bible institute just outside the 11 mile “danger zone.” They are close, but safe, although they and their classmates are constantly having to clean up ash and concrete-like wet ash on their campus. Their school is also serving as a relief center, collecting and delivering clothing, water and hygiene kits to those who have been affected by the volcano.

We’re proud of them, and thankful to the Lord that he has them there, and for how he is using them to help others in His Name.

Pray for the safety of Resh, Melanie and their classmates. And pray for the relief efforts of their school.

Ice

Winter Storms

This morning, as the latest winter storm hits the US, American Airlines notified Bill that his flight plans might be “affected” because of ice and wind tomorrow. They are offering free flight rescheduling. That’s nice of them! But changing his arrival date will mess up several of his planned meetings. So we’re going to push ahead and ask the Lord to keep the skies clear in Springfield, MO!

Please pray with us to safe and unhindered travel tomorrow!

Coming Soon!

Be on the lookout for our next update. Bill just received the first trial version of the new CLA App! He’s testing it out and looking forward to giving a report.