Translation

Meanwhile, Back on Palawan…

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…God is still working!

We wanted to update you on what God continues to do among the Palawano people where we worked for 30 years.

The New Testament is Being Studied

About a week ago, the believers in our former village organized a conference to study the book of Galatians for four days using the New Testament translation we gave them eleven years ago.

The Palawano Attendees of the Galatians conference

The church leaders invited our partner Tim to come and teach. Several Palawano men also taught during the conference…

  1. ABIL was a teenager when we moved to Palawan. He was one of Bill’s translation helpers for years, and one of the guys Bill helped to disciple. He’s been a leader and a teacher in the church for many years. He’s a fiery preacher.

  2. ARNEL is another one of Bill’s translation helpers. He was a toddler when we moved to Palawan. He grew up under Bill’s teaching and found his wife Arlen in the youth group that met in our house. He plays guitar and leads worship as well as teaching God’s Word in the meetings. Arnel is a quiet, thoughtful man, and his teaching is insightful and thorough.

  3. RESHAL is the son of one of our daughter’s friends. His mom was only about 8 years old when we first met her. Now Reshal has grown up, and finished high school (which was unheard-of not that long ago). He and his sister Melani even went to a Bible College south of Manila and got their teaching credentials (a first for the Palawanos in our area!)

    Now they’re both back on Palawan, teaching in the public schools in Palawano communities, and Reshal is also helping to teach and lead in the church. Reshal is gifted at developing sermons, and he can study the Bible in three languages as he prepares, which greatly enhances his messages.
Reshal Teaching God’s Word

The Galatians Conference

Reshal’s final message on Sunday was about Galatians 4. His message was very timely because another group has moved into the area which teaches that Christians are under the law and need to keep the Sabbath, etc. A number of Palawanos have been led astray by this group’s teaching.

Reshal’s message touched many hearts. This is an answer to prayer. In our last update we asked you to pray about this group and its false teaching. Reshal said he plans to keep reteaching the content of his message in the coming weeks because so many people need to be reminded of the truth that we are under grace and no longer under the Law.

We were told that the Palawanos thanked God and us for their Bible. One man there commented about the teaching, saying, “I couldn’t get enough!” Others expressed their gratitude to the missionary who enabled Reshal to get more training so he could preach that well.

It was humbling and encouraging to hear how God’s Word continues to bear fruit from the seeds we and our partners planted long ago.

The Palawanos Still Love to Sing

Tim brought a bunch more copies of the songbooks. The Palawanos still love to sing the worship songs Bill translated. The singing part of their church service can last a half hour or more!

Someone sent us a video of the entire group as they sang Keurem! Kekseg! (“Be Bold! Be Strong!”) And here are a couple screenshots of another video showing a group of a dozen kids clapping and enthusiastically singing Metaas ey Ngaran Mo (“Lord I Lift Your Name on High.”) Watching those videos brought tears to our eyes.

Kids Singing Their Hearts Out

Our Translation is “Going Wide”

One of our missionary coworkers works in another area where the Palawanos speak a different dialect. She has been using our New Testament translation as a base, and translating it directly into that other dialect. Their team is going through all the checking procedures to test people’s understanding and the translation’s accuracy. But she said only a few important changes have to be made to produce clearly understood Scriptures for that group.

Other Updates

GLOBAL TRAINING: You may remember that back in 2021 and 2022 Bill’s team worked hard to create 30 video courses on communication principles and worldview. Those courses were used as part of a two-year online program to train missionaries from “closed” countries, where no in-person training would be possible. These trainees want training in order to reach unreached people groups in their own countries.

We knew that those 30 courses were still being used, but Bill just learned about a new class will enter that training program. This class is the largest yet—SEVENTY students–and they are from nine different countries in Africa, central Asia, SE Asia, and the Caribbean. We’re so excited to see more workers trained and sent into the harvest!

BILL’S TEAM: We’ll update you next time on the language and culture learning tools they are developing.

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.

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.

Full Circle

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Another Palawano Translation?

Yes. Did you know there are THREE Palawano people groups on Palawan? Three related-but-distinct Palawano languages? It’s true. For security reasons, let’s call them Palawano 1, Palawano 2, and Palawano 3.

We did the translation for Palawano 1. Some friends with Wycliffe Bible Translators did a translation for Palawano 2. But Palawano 3 needs a New Testament translation. Actually, they have one–it’s 50 years old and no one can understand it, which is sad.

Another Palawano Translation!

Yes! We’re not going to do this translation. But we’ll be helping those who will.

Some missionaries have moved in among that third Palawano group. Graeme and Rachel are learning the language, and they plan to organize a translation team of native speakers and missionaries. The plan is to adapt our Palawano 1 translation into Palawano 3, and then check it and revise it so that it communicates really well.

We’re excited about this for two reasons: First and foremost, those Palawanos will finally have God’s Word in an understandable form. But secondly, we’re very happy to see all the effort that went into our translation have a wider impact.

Helping Translators Learn Language

In a recent post Then and Now, we talked about how our ministry has shifted to an international focus, and we explained how we are no longer involved full-time with the Palawano work. But we know we’ll never be 100% done with the Palawanos. Lord willing, we plan to return from time to time to do teaching from our translation as we did last February. In the past year we put the New Testament into a mobile phone app, and we are developing Bible teaching materials for the youth.

But… we’re “all about language learning” now, right?

True. And now our new ministry of helping missionaries with language learning has circled right back to Palawan. Bill is helping Graeme and Rachel as they study that Palawano 3. “Our” Palawano 1 is similar enough that Bill can explain things to them about the grammar and vocabulary, and it is helpful. Bill is pretty familiar with Palawano 3, as well. And this is Graeme and Rachel’s third Philippine language, so they are making fast progress.

Once translation begins, the plan is that Bill will help as a translation consultant.

Pray with us that language learning would progress well, and that the new translation team will be able to start soon. Pray for Bill as he helps Graeme and Rachel with the Palawano 3 language.

And for all who had a part in seeing our translation completed for Palawano 1, rejoice with us about the added fruit of seeing God’s Word more easily put into another Palawano language.

God’s Word is life. It’s eternal. Nothing matters more than getting his Word into people’s Heart Languages.

Partnering together, we can get this done for his Glory!

 

 

Image credit: Palawan mother and child. Photo by Norm Rice, former missionary to the Palawanos.

Then… and Now

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Then-Now single

Then (1980s) and now (2016)

 

A LOT HAS CHANGED. (Well, besides the fact that we are a little bit older…)

THEN: For 33 years, it was easy to explain our ministry: Bill and Donna? Oh yeah, PALAWAN. We lived and ministered on Palawan. We worked with the Palawanos (we were palawano.com, for goodness’ sake!) We were translating the Palawano New Testament. It was easy for people to “get” what we were all about. And when people thought of us, they thought of Palawan, Palawanos and translation. Simple.

NOW: We’re all over the place. Lots of different countries. Various projects. We even have to be cryptic about where we are going sometimes for the safety of the missionaries there. Since our ministry is not tied to one location or one people group, it’s harder to get a handle on… especially for many who have had “Bill & Donna = Palawano” in their minds all this time.

Basically, we are helping lots of missionaries to do what we did.

We had to learn Palawano on our own (there’s no Rosetta Stone language course for languages like that.) And other missionaries who want to reach other Unreached People Groups have to do the same kind of language learning. It’s hard! So we’re teaching them how to do it. And many of the missionaries we get to train are non-Western missionaries: Asians from many countries, and (soon) Latin Americans and Africans.

WHAT HAS NOT CHANGED: We’re still with New Tribes Mission, still passionate about seeing Unreached People Groups like the Palawanos reached for Christ. But instead of reaching one people group, now we are a part of reaching many groups as we train others all around the world. It’s a big ministry with many challenges in terms of travel, budget, health and strength, as well as the often daunting task of figuring out how best to train missionaries from such a diverse range of cultures.

We need your prayers more that ever. We need others like you to join our team, as well. So many people groups around the world are waiting to hear the Gospel in their Heart Language. We’re doing all we can to reach those people groups by training missionaries to learn their languages in order to reach them with a clearly-communicated message.

This weekend were asked to shared at the Missions Moment in a church who have been partnering with our ministry for nearly 20 years. So we took the opportunity to make a one-page flyer explaining what we did “back then” and what we are doing now.

We thought you might like to see our cool flyer. You can read it here (or click on it to open it/save it.)

Join our team. Pray for us. Let’s reach the world.

Flyer

There’s an App for That!

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Phone app

From Blow Guns to Smart Phones

The world has changed a lot in the last 33 years, and so have the Palawanos:

1983… When we first moved in among the Palawano people, many of the older men still wore g-strings; few people could read; only two of the women spoke any language but Palawano.

2012… At the dedication of the Palawano New Testament translation, one of our translation helpers was shooting video of us with her smart phone.

The Palawano New Testament is Now an Android app

For years we labored to see the Word of God in the Palawano language… in print. But we could never have foreseen this…

Yes, thanks to the efforts of a tech-savvy missionary in another mission, the Palawanos can Androidnow read their New Testament–and listen to the audio version–on their phones.

Many Palawanos now have very inexpensive Chinese-made Android smart phones. They don’t have internet, and can’t afford to make many phone calls. They mostly use them for texting and taking pictures. But now they can use their phones to grow in their faith.

The app features…

  • SEARCH… so the Palawanos now have the an instant concordance in their pocket.
  • AUDIO… the recorded version of the New Testament can be played from the app.
  • HIGHLIGHTING… each verse is highlighted as the audio plays–this will be a huge help to new readers as they follow along while listening.

BluetoothWe’re very excited as this app gets launched. Palawanos can copy it from phone to phone using bluetooth (yes, they know about “bloo toot”) so the app can spread upriver and downriver, far beyond the reach of any missionary. Even curious unbelievers might get the app and be exposed to the truth of God’s Word.

Join us!

Now we are turning most of our attention to the thousands of yet-unreached people groups around the world, providing training for missionaries from non-Western nations so they can reach others.

Partner with us so that many other peoples can have the Word of God in their hands…

…and on their phones!